«Raa 


■rr*ntmi>iiitgyjfyTSTf:^fn"- 


BOYNTON 


The  Navies  of  England, 
France,  America,  and  Russia. 


mmm 


warn 


VA 

40 

B8 


THE    NAVIES 


OF 


ENGLAND,  FRANCE,  AMERICA, 
AND    RUSSIA, 

BEING  AN  EXTRACT  FROM  A  WORK  ON 

ENGLISH  AND  FRENCH  NEUTRALITY,  AND 
THE  ANGLO-FRENCH  ALLIANCE. 


BY 

Rev.    C.    B.    BOYNTON,    D.    D 


NEW    YORK: 

JOHN  F.   TROW,   PRINTER,   50   GREENE   STREET, 

1865. 


THE  NAVIES  OF  ENGLAND,  FRANCE,  AMERICA 

AND  RUSSIA. 

Many  varying  newspaper  reports  of  the  strength,  "of  the 
navies  of  Europe  have  "been  spread  abroad.  The  follow- 
ing statement  of  the  condition  of  the  English  and  French 
navies  is  copied  from  the  North  British  Review  for  Aug., 
1863. 

The  writer  gives  the  following  in  a  foot-note  as  his 
authority  :  "  The  figures  for  England  are  from  a  Return  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  1863,  No.  30  ;  for  France,  from  the 
official  statement  for  1862,  transmitted  by  our  (the  English) 
ambassador  (Parliamentary  Pap.,  1862,  No.  177).'' 

This  table  is  worthy  of  especial  study.  It  presents  the 
latest  official  statement  of  the  actual  condition  of  the  English 
iron-clad  navy,  and  from  it  we  are  able  to  form  a  correct 
estimate  of  the  force  with  which  England  supposes  she  can 
blockade  our  ports  and  crush  our  navy.  It  shows  us  exactly 
the  character,  the  size,  form,  and  armament  of  her  most 
formidable  ships,  and  in  which  her  power,  skill,  and  science 
are  all  concentrated.  They  are,  doubtless,  among  the  most 
powerful  broadside  vessels  in  the  world,  and,  perhaps,  would 
find  no  equal  among  ships  of  that  class  unless  in  our  own 
New  Ironsides,  whose  armament  is  much  heavier  than  theirs. 
Whether  they  are  a  match  for  our  Monitors  is  a  question  to 
be  considered. 

The  opinion  of  our  adversaries,  who  have  been  fight- 
ing the  Monitors  for  two  years  with  the  most  formidaole 
ordnance  which  their  British  friends  could  make,  is  en- 
titled to  great  weight.  The  Richmond  Whig,  in  dis- 
cussing the  propriety  of  submission  to  England,  sav^  : 
"  She  has  no  ships  that  could  encounter  the  Yankee  ^So- 
tors  with  any  prospect  of  success,  and  although  it  is  easy* 
enough  for  her  to  build  such,  yet  they  would  not  be  able^lo 


' 


^ 


Monitors  are  made  foi  coast  defence  and 

igation,     She  couM  not,  then,  in  all  proba- 

l,i!  i  break  up  the  bla  kade  of  onr  ports,  far  less  Bend  an 

:  fleet  here  to  assist  us  in  driving  away  the  Yankees, 

t  (turning  to  colonial  vassalage.     We  think  it, 

thi  .  1  i.-ii-.  11  \   worth  while  bo  inquire  into  the  expediency 

turning  to  the  anus  of  Old   England,  seeing  Old  Eng- 

iuld  not  receive  as  if  she  would."' 

T;  ant,  we  are  informed,  includes  vessels  afloat  and 

buildii 


t 

- 

*i     . 

-- 

-      • 

:-  t 

-  ■. 
t  — 

tn 

- 

3 

a 

-_    ID 

: 

si 
a  3 

Is 

i. 

Itld 

21 

37 

:i 

1G 
IS 

BO 

7 

9 

9 

380 
244 

860 

109 

122 

•■  At  rlinhurn  the  French  Emperor  proved  that  iron-clad 

:ould,  without  injury,  sustain  a  fire  which  would  he 

utterly  destructive  to  wooden  vessels,     lie  pursued  the  con- 

cluf         thus  arrived  at.  and  finally,  in  1858,  ordered  the 

ti  'ii  of  four  iron-plated  frigates — La  Grloire,  E/Invin- 

cible,  :  rmandie,  and  La  Oouronne.     The  first  three  are 

on  w I  frames  j  the  latter  is  iron  throughout.     They  are 

ut  two  hundred   and   thirty-one  feet  in  length,  carrying 

thirty-sii  50-poundera  on  a  single  protected  deck,  with  two 

an  upper  deck,  unprotected*   Their  engines  are  of 

nine  hundred  horse  power,  and  the  crew  five   hundred  and 

i     i.     All   these  are  at   sea,  and  have  been   found 

1  ;  but  the  ports  being  only  about  six  feet  above  the 

\  p*  at  load  draught,  they  arc  placed  at  a  certain 

U  in  had  weather.     Subsequently  two  others,  the 

^0  M  igenta,    were   ordered,   which    have    been 

h^  not  yet  completed.     They  are  armed  with 

^pp%;'  king  from   the  how,  carry  their  guns  in  two 

jr        •         utre  of  the  ship,  and  the  lower  ports  arc  eight 


/* 


i 


feet  from  the  water-line.  Their  length  is  two  hundred  and 
eighty- two  feet ;  draught,  twenty-five  feet  ;  and  horse- 
power, one  thousand. 

"  In  November,  1860,  ten  more  were  ordered,  which  are 
still  on  the  stocks,  and  are  being  slowly  proceeded  with. 
They  are  to  be  of  the  Gloire  type,  and  all  of  wood  frames, 
except  the  Heroine,  which  is  of  iron  ;  but  the  thickness  of 
the  plates  has  been  increased  from  three  and  a  half  to  four 
inches  of  the  Gloire,  to  four  and  a  half  to  six  inches.  All 
the  other  iron-plated  vessels  under  construction  in  France  at 
the  present  moment  are  merely  floating  batteries  for  harbor 
defence. 

"  Our  own  armor  fleet,  though  more  tardily  commenced, 
now  stands  thus  : 


nuii. 


Armor- 
plated. 


Tons. 


At  Sea. 

Warrior 

Black  Prince. 

Defence 

Resistance. . . 
Eoval  Oak . . . 


F Launched. 

Caledonia 

Ocean 

Prince  Consort. 

Hector 

Valiant 


To  be  Launched 

1863. 

Minotaur , 

Achilles 

Royal  Alfred... 

Zealous1 

Royal  Sovereign 
Prince  Albert. . 

Research 

Enterprise 


To  be  Launched 
1864. 

Agincourt , 

Northumberland 
Favorite 


Iron 


Wood 


Wood 


Iron 


Iron 

u 

Wood 
it 

u 

Iron 
Wood 


Iron 


Wood 


Partially 


Wholly 


Wholly 


Partiallv. 


Wholly 


Partiallv 
Wholly 


Partiallv 


Wholly. 


0,109 
6,109 
3,720 
3,710 
4,056 


4,125 
4,047 
4,045 
4,089 

4,003 


6,621 
6,079 
4.(145 
3,716 
3,903 
2,529 
1,253 
990 


0,621 
0,021 
2,186 


Horse 
Power. 


Length. 


1,250 

1,250 

600 

600 


1,000 

1,000 

1,000 

800 

800 


1,350 
1,250 
800 
800 
800 
500 
200 
160 


1,350 

1,350 

400 


Draught.    Guns 


feet. 
380 
380 
280 
280 
273 


273 
273 

280 
280 


400 
380 
273 
252 
240 
240 
195 
180 


400 
400 
225 


feet.  in. 
22  9 
26  3+ 
24  11 

24  10 

25  10+ 


25  lOi 
25  10+ 
25  10+ 
24  8 
24  8 


25  8 

26  3i 
25  10i 
25  3 
22  11 
20 

14 

14  U 


25  8 
25  8 
20  5 


40 
40 
16 
16 
35 


35 
35 
35 
32 
1  32 


37 
30 
35 
16 

5 
5 
4 
4 


37 
37 

8 


Men. 


704 
704 

445 
455 
600 


000 
000 
000 
600 
000 


704 

704 
600 

200 

160 

*80 


600 
600 
100 


ber  authorities  Btate  the  number  of  iron-clads  in  the 
I'       h  navy  at   ninety-four;  but,  as  the   English  reviewer 

.ill   bul    thos iimerated  are  merely  swimming 

for  harbor  defence,  and  small  gun-boats,  such  as 

were  used  at  Kinburn,  in  the  Crimean  war.     Of  these  swim- 

mii,  and   gun-boats,  the  National  Almanac  for 

numerates  -  -seven,  Leaving,  of  the  ninety-four 

iron-cl  oly  seventeen  for  tl cean-going  ships,  which 

add  wry  nearly  to  I         atementof  the  Review. 
The  condition  ofth  ■  Russian  navy  is  said  to  have  been  as 
i  362  : 

No. 

line 9 

12 

Frigates 8 

Coi              -2-1 

Clipper* 12 

I  batter]             lad) 1 

id) 1 

lad) 1 

7'.i 

2 

U5 

irtfl ;i 

68 

249 

82 

•  

311 
rice,  Bmall  voxels :j00 

h  an  enumeration,  however,  of  the  ships  of  any  nation 

ry  Lmperfecl   idea  of  the  Btrength  of  its  navy. 

hundred  small  Bhips  here  s  i  down  are,  probably, 

value  for  offensive   purposes,  or  distant  service  of  any 

ame  may  be  said  of  hundreds  of  the  thousand 

•  the  British  navy,  or  of  the  Beven  hundred  ships  of 

Fi 

the  Bpring  of  L862,  Russia  has  been  actively  en- 

jed  in  in-  her  oavy,  and  its  effectiveness  has  been 


largely  increased.  Like  other  nations,  she  has  begun  the 
construction  of  an  iron-clad  fleet  ;  and  this,  like  the  Amer- 
ican navy,  will,  it  is  said,  be  composed  mainly,  at  'first,  of 
ships  of  the  Monitor  class,  of  which  many  have  already  been 
built. 

The  first  necessity  of  Kussia  is  precisely  like  our  own. 
She  needs  batteries  which  will  effectually  protect  her  har- 
bors against  the  iron-clads  of  England  and  France  ;  and,  at 
one-fourth  the  cost  of  such  a  ship  as  the  Warrior  or  the 
Minotaur,  she  can  construct  a  Monitor  battery  that  would 
demolish  either  of  these. 

Russia,  having  an  unlimited  supply  of  material  for  a  navy, 
whether  timber  or  iron  ;  ship-yards  so  situated  that  she  can 
defend  them  against  all  Europe  ;  having  also  the  benefit  of 
American  experience  and  skill,  is  able  to  construct  a  navy 
equal  to  any  in  the  world  ;  and,  with  her  new  and  most 
valuable  possessions  on  the  Pacific,  nothing  can  prevent  her 
from  becoming,  in  the  immediate  future,  a  great  maritime 
power. 

The  Monitor  forms  of  battery  will  give  to  Russia,  as  it 
does  to  us,  an  immense  advantage  for  all  purposes  of  defence. 
Wherever,  in  her  numerous  rivers,  she  has  ten  feet  of  water, 
she  can  build  a  Monitor  that  will  be  more  than  a  match  for 
any  broadside  frigate  yet  afloat,  or  that  can  be  floated  across 
an  ocean. 

Defended  by  these  batteries — invulnerable  floating  forts 
as  they  are — neither  America  nor  Russia  can  be  successfully 
attacked  ;  while  within  this  impregnable  line  of  defence  they 
can  construct,  to  say  the  least,  as  many,  as  swift,  and  as 
powerful  ocean-going  ships  as  any  other  nation. 

But  the  policy  of  Russia,  like  our  own,  demands  peace  and 
self-development,  not  war  and  conquest  ;  and  we  both  need 
means  of  defence  that  will  keep  our  ambitious  neighbors  at 
home,  and  the  means  on  the  ocean  of  defending  our  growing 
commerce. 

The  American  navy  consists,  according  to  the  last  report 
of  the   Secretary  of  the  Navy,  of  six  hundred  and  seventy- 


Balling  SiiipM. 

Total. 

103 

669* 

122 

482f 

112 

f,71 

65 

313 

8 

one    vessels,  seventy  of  which   arc  iron-clad.     Of  the  whole 
Dumber,  one  hundred  and   twelve  are  Bailing  vessels.     The 
neral  account  of  these  navies  will  stand  as  follows  : 

Steam-ships. 

land 566 

France, 300 

America, 669 

Russia  (18C2),      ...     248 

The  National  Almanac  savs  Russia  has  also  four  hun- 
dred  and  seventy-four  transport  and  coasting  vessels  of  various 
kinds,  but  it  does  not  appear  precisely  what  they  are.  Russia 
has  also  an  iron-clad  fleet  in  course  of  construction,  of  which 
no  mention  is  here  made.  Among  her  iron-clads  are  thirteen 
Monitors  of  the  American  pattern,  ordered  by  the  emperor 
alter  Admiral  Lissovsky's  report  of  the  trial-trip  of  the  Pas- 
saic and  of  her  fifteen-inch  guns. 

These  figures,  though  "copied  from  official  statements, 
give  only  approximately  the  actual  number  of  the  ships  of 
these  various  navies,  because  changes  arc  being  so  rapidly 
made  that  the  statements  for  18G3  will  not  apply  to  the 
present  year.  So  far  as  numbers  alone  are  concerned,  and  in- 
cluding all  classes  of  ships,  gun-boats  for  harbor  defence,  and 
floating  batteries,  these  navies  may  probably  be  represented 
in  round  numbers,  with  sufficient  accuracy,  as  follows  :  Eng- 
land ,1,000  ships,  including  all  classes  ;  France,  600  ;  Amer- 
ica, 700  ;  Russia,  550  to  COO. 

Numbers  alone,  however,  afford  no  sufficient  data  by 
which  tli''  navies  of  these  nations  can  be  compared.  Steam 
has  so  completely  revolutionized  navigation  and  the  construc- 
tion of  war  ships,  that  the  efficiency  of  a  navy  depends,  first 
of  all,  upon  the  Dumber  of  its  steam-ships,  then  upon  their 
speed  and  size,  then  upon  their  character,  whether  wooden 
vessels  or  plated  with  armor,  and.  finally,  upon  the  guns  with 
which  they  are  armed.  If  we  compare  the  steam  navies  of 
these  tour  powers,  and  take  the  figures  for  France  and  Eng- 

*  Exclusire  of  .-mall  gun-boatsand  transports;  when  added,  they  make  1,014. 
f  If  add  Bwimming  batteries  and  gun-boat-,  669. 


land  from  the  official  statements  in  the  North   British, 
already  quoted,  the  account  stands  thus  : 

English   Steam  Navy,  ....  566 

French       do.       do., 360 

American  do.       do.,    .....  559 

Russian  (in  1860), 242 

Since  1860  the  Eussian  steam  fleet  has  been  largely  in- 
creased. A  comparison  by  numbers,  though  in  no  case 
reliable,  would  approach  more  nearly  to  accurate  results  with 
the  navies  of  Europe,  than  in  comparing  their  numbers  with 
ours.  The  form,  size,  and  armament  of  the  European  ves- 
sels are  so  far  alike  as  to  enable  us  to  estimate,  approximately, 
their  relative  strength  by  a  statement  of  numbers  ;  but  the 
American  navy  is  so  different  from  all  others  in  the  character 
and  armament  of  its  ships,  that  mere  numbers  of  ships  and 
guns  give  no  true  idea  of  its  relative  power.  For  example, 
the  reports  state  the  number  of  guns  in  the  English  navy  at 
about  16,500,  while  the  number  in  our  own  is  only  4,600  ; 
but  when  we  remember  that  twenty-eight  of  the  guns  of  Eng- 
land's finest  frigate,  the  Warrior,  are  68-pounders,  and  the 
remaining  twelve  100-pounders,  while  we  have  many  guns  on 
board  our  ships  which  carry  a  shot  of  450  pounds,  the  appar- 
ent disparity  disappears. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  a  correct  opinion  of  the  relative  power 
and  efficiency  of  the  American  navy  can  not  be  formed  with- 
out a  somewhat  minute  examination  of  the  character  and 
armament  of  European  war  ships  in  comparison  with  our  own. 
It  must  be  remembered,  these  comparisons  relate  to  navies 
and  war  ships  as  they  are  at  present.  Inventions  cannot  be 
monopolized  by  one  nation,  and  if  it  appears  that  our  navy 
and  artillery  are  now,  in  some  important  respects,  superior  to 
all  others,  it  will  depend  upon  the  skill  and  genius  of  our 
countrymen,  and  the  resources  of  our  country,  whether  this 
superiority  is  retained.  Judging  from  the  past,  however,  we 
have  little  cause  for  apprehension.  Our  mechanics  and  in- 
ventors have  never  yet  failed  to  protect  the  country  in  her 
hour  of  need,  and  we  may  safely  trust  them  for  the  future. 


10 

In  estimating  tin.1  relative  strength  of  navies,  we  have  now  to 
consider  an  entirely  new  element  of  power,  the  iron-clad  ship  ; 
and  we  must  add  to  this  the  newly  invented  heavy  artillery. 
Both  these  inventions  are  yet  in  their  infancy,  and,  astonish- 
ing as  the  results  are  which  are  already  readied,  all  estimates 
must  be  based  upon  things  as  they  now  are,  for  no  one  can 
i  iresee  how  Boon  ear  weapons  and  methods  of  warfare  maybe 

lationized  again. 

The  fight  between  the  Merrimac  and  our  wooden  frigates, 
and  then  between  her  and  the  Monitor,  closed  up  one  great 
era  in  naval  warfare.  By  that  battle  the  wooden  navies  of 
the  world  were  virtually  annihilated.  After  that  fight  the 
powers  of  Europe,  in  calculating  their  naval  force,  were  re- 
duced to  the  small  catalogue  of  their  iron-clad  ships.  The 
London  Times  then  said  that  the  navy  of  England  consisted 
of  four  ships,  and  the  English  statesman  was  nearly  right 
when  he  declared,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  that  England 
had  no  fleet. 

In  a  lecture  by  J.  Scott  Russell,  Esq.,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing :  "  Th"  first  question  was,  were  wooden  ships  worth  any- 
thing for  purposes  of  warfare  ?  Sir  John  C.  Hay,  the  chair- 
man of  the  committee  appointed  by  Government  to  make 
experiments  on  the  effects  of  artillery  upon  iron  armor,  uttered 
this  fatal  sentence  upon  wooden  fleets  :  '  The  man  who  goes 
into  action  in  a  wooden  ship  is  a  fool,  and  the  man  who  sends 
him  there  is  a  villain.'  A  list,  of  the  'magnificent  fleet' 
which  now  defends  England  had  been  recently  published,  and 
it  amounted  to  1,014  ships  of  war.  This  was  a  very 'for- 
midable inventory/  but  he  could  give  them  a  very  simple 
analysis  of  the  number.  Of  these  1,014  there  were,  of  wooden 
ships,  1,010  ;  id' fast  iron  ships,  2  ;  of  slow  iron  ships,  2.  A 
fleel  of  twenty  Warriors  would  he  more  formidable  than  the 
whole  of  the  1,010  wooden  ships  put  together." 

This  is  English  opinion  of  high  authority  in  regard  to 
w  ".den  navii 


II 

It  is  not  intended,  by  this,  to  assert  that  wooden  ships 
are,  hereafter,  to  he  considered  as  absolutely  worthless,  but 
they  must  hold,  in  the  future,  nearly  the  same  relation  to  the 
iron-clads  that  merchant  vessels  have  hitherto  done  to  the 
frigate  and  the  line-of-battle  ship.     A  wooden  ship,  of  any 
size,  maybe  regarded  as  absolutely  powerless  against  a  prop- 
erly armored  vessel,   and,  therefore,  except  as  against  other 
wooden  ships,  or  as  transports,  the  immense  wooden  navies  of 
the  world  may  be  left  out  entirely  in  our  calculations  for  the 
future.     This  destroys,  at  a  blow,  the  boasted  supremacy  of 
England  and  France,  and  places  England,  France,  America, 
and  Russia  very  nearly  upon  an  equality  in  regard  to  naval 
power,  with  the  advantage  thus  far,  however,  on  the  side  of 
the  United  States,  as  will  be  proved. 

When  a  ship  like  the  Merrimac  demonstrated  in  actual 
battle  that  she  could  smash  up  and  send  to  the  bottom  a 
fleet  of  wooden  ships  as  the  mere  sport  of  a  day,  or,  at  most, 
without  impairing  her  fighting  powers,  it  shows,  very  con- 
clusively, that  wooden  navies  are  already  a  thing  of  the 
past,  except  for  certain  limited  purposes.  It  is  scarcely  too 
much  to  sav  that,  with  the  armament  which  the  navies  of 
the  world  then  carried,  the  Merrimac  might  have  met  and 
sunk  every  wooden  ship  on  the  ocean,  with  no  material  dam- 
age to  herself.  She  would  have  destroyed  our  finest  frigates, 
the  Minnesota  and  the  Niagara,  as  quickly  she  did  the  Con- 
gress and  the  Cumberland. 

No  squadron  of  wooden  vessels  can  hereafter  enter  and 
hold  a  harbor,  or  blockade  a  port,  in  the  presence  of  a  single 
iron-clad,  such  as  every  great  naval  power  has  already  ;  nor 
could  they  attack  a  fort,  with  any  chance  of  success,  under 
the  fire  of  the  new  artillery.  They  may,  possibly,  pass  a 
fort  without  material  injury,  but  they  would  only  pass  to  cer- 
tain destruction  if  they  were  to  meet  an  armored  vessel  be- 
yond. Laying  out  of  the  account,  therefore,  the  wooden 
navies,  in  estimating  the  actual  fighting  power  of  the  nations, 
the  comparison  is  reduced  to  the  armored  vessels  now  owned 
in  Europe  and  America,  and  the  power  and  resources  of  this 


12 

and  other  countries  for  the  construction  of  war  ships  hereaf- 
t  e  r. 

Tlic  fact  that  the  armor  plate  for  vessels  is  an  American 
invention,  will  strengthen  our  confidence  in  the  skill  of  our 
countrymen  for  the  future.  As  once  "before,  in  the  style  of 
their  frigates  and  their  heavy  guns,  now  again,  in  the  iron 
shield  and  form  of  the  ship,  Americans  have  revolutionized 
the  methods  of  naval  war.  We  may  hope,  therefore,  that  she 
will  also  had  the  nations  hereafter.  The  following  account 
of  the  invention  is  copied  from  the  Scientific  American  for 
February  7,  1S63  : 

"  On  the  22d  ult.,  Senator  Cowan,  of  Pennsylvania,  pre- 
sented  a  petition  in  the  Senate  from  A.  Stewart  and  others, 
asking  tor  a  pension  to  the  widow  of  Thomas  Gregg;  it 
being  claimed  that  he  was  the  original  inventor  and  patentee 
of  iron-clad  vessels.  This  is  a  new  phase  of  this  subject,  and 
a  brief  history  of  the  invention,  according  to  the  information 
we  possess,  will,  therefore,  be  of  some  public  interest  just 
now.  It  is  generally  admitted  by  European  engineers  that, 
although  iron-clad  gun-boats  were  first  brought  practically 
into  use  during  the  Crimean  war,  the  late  Robert  L.  Stevens 
and  E.  A.  Stephens,  of  Hoboken,  N.  J.,  were  the  inventors 
of  them.  Vessels  protected  witli  angulated  iron  plates  were 
proposed  by  them  as  early  as  1816,  and,  for  coast  and  harbor 
defence,  a  description  of  such  vessels  was  afterwards  submit- 
ted to  a  Government  board,  consisting  of  Commodores  Stew- 
art and  Perry  and  Colonels  Thair  and  Totten,  in  1841.  It 
was  stated  in  the  document  proposing  the  construction  of 
Buch  a  \essel  l'»r  thedef'-nce  of  New  York,  that  plates  of  iron 
four  inches  in  thickness  were  equal  to  five  feet  four  inches  of 
oak  in  resisting  a  ball  at  point-blank  distance ;  and,  with  the 
guns  then  in  use,  it  was  supposed  that  none  of  their  shot 
could  penetrate  a  vessel  clad  with  such  armor.  In  1843,  a 
contract  was  formed  between  our  Government  and  Messrs. 
Stevens  lor  the  construction  of  such  a  floating  battery,  and 
.v.^>0,000  was  furnished  by  Government,  and  expended  on  the 
battery  now  at  Hoboken. 


13 

"  During  the  Crimeaii  war,  in  1855,  it  was  found  that 
wooden  steam  frigates  were  totally  useless  in  attacking 
granite  casemated  forts,  defended  by  big  guns  firing  shells. 
An  application  of  Stevens's  invention  was  suggested,  and 
several  iron-clad  gun-boats  were  then  built  for  the  French 
and  English  navies.  A  few  of  these  were  employed  at  the 
siege  of  Kinburn,  and  were  decidedly  successful.  This  led 
the  Emperor  of  France  to  extend  the  application  of  iron 
plates  to  one  of  his  large  frigates — La  Gloire — which  was 
completed  three  years  ago,  and  was  the  first  regular  iron-clad 
war  ship  ever  built.  Since  then  several  have  been  constructed 
for  the  French  and  English  navies — the  American  invention 
having  thus  been  first  carried  into  practical  use  in  Europe." 

In  order  to  mark  the  progress  of  the  art  of  mailing  vessels, 
from  the  first  rude  application  of  the  American  idea  by  Louis 
Napoleon  to  his  gun-boats,  at  Kinburn,  to  its  present  condi- 
tion, and  to  exhibit  the  marked  peculiarities  of  the  American 
iron-clads,  it  will  be  instructive  to  trace  the  different  steps. 
Passing  by  the  small  gun-boats  which  fought  at  Kinburn,  the 
first  important  trial  of  the  iron  mail  was  by  the  French 
Emperor  on  the  frigate  La  G'loire,  the  construction  of  which 
was  ordered  in  1858.  She  is  simply  a  frigate  of  the  common 
model,  cased  with  iron  plates  about  four  inches  thick.  The 
plates  are  said  to  be  three  and  a  half  inches  thick  at  the  stern 
and  bow,  and  four  and  a  half  inches  in  the  centre,  covering 
the  ship's  battery. 

She  is  described  from  French  authorities  as  about  257 
feet  long,  carrying  thirty-six  50-pounders  on  a  single  protected 
deck.  Her  engine  is  of  900-horse  power,  and  her  crew  con- 
sists of  500  men.  Her  ports  are  only  six  feet  above  the  water. 
Her  width  is  fifty-six  feet,  and  her  speed  thirteen  and  a  quar- 
ter knots  per  hour.  The  French  Emperor  is  constructing  ten 
more  iron-cased  frigates  of  this  class.  Besides  these,  France 
has  now  at  sea  the  Normandie,  the  Invincible,  the  Couronne, 
and  two  larger  iron-clad  rams,  the  Solferino  and  the  Magenta. 

These  last  carry  each  fifty-two  guns,  and  have  a  speed  of 


14 

thirteen  and  a  half  knots  per  hour.  The  lower  ports  of  these 
are  eight  feet  above  the  water.  It  is  also  stated  by  the 
Norte  British  Review  (August,  18G3),  that  these  largest 
French  frigates  arc  plated  in  the  centre  with  iron  six  inches 

thick.  It  may  he  stated,  then,  with  sufficient  accuracy,  that 
Louis  Napoleon  lias  at  present  a  fleet  of  sixteen  iron-clad 
frigates,  carrying,  each,  from  thirty-six  to  fifty-two  rifled  50- 
pounders  ;  that  their  armor-plates  arc  some  four  and  a  half 
and  some  six  inches  thick,  and  that  they  have  a  speed  equal 
to  our  fastest  war  ships,  with  the  exception  of  some  of  our 
small  and  latest  built  ships,  such  as  the  Eutaw  and  the  Sas- 
sacus,  being  much  swifter  than  any  of  our  own  iron-clads. 

The  Normandie  has  crossed  the  Atlantic,  but  no  very 
favorable  account  lias  yet  been  given  of  the  sea-going  quali- 
ties of  any  of  these  French  ships.  They  arc  said  to  roll  very 
heavily,  and  that  their  batteries  cannot  be  used  in  a  heavy 
sea,  because  the  ports  roll  under.  They  arc  also  said  to  be 
very  unhealthy.  These  are  very  likely  to  be  objections  to  all 
iron-clads,  because,  when  in  action,  few  of  them  can  be  prop- 
erly ventilated,  and  the  same  must  be  true  of  them  in  heavy 
weather.  So  far  as  is  known,  all  the  broadside  iron-plated 
ships  roll  heavily  in  a  rough  sea,  and  the  remedy  for  this  does 
not,  as  yet,  appear. 

An  inspection  of  the  table  already  copied  from  the  North 
British  will  show  that  English  mailed  vessels  are,  many  of 
them,  of  much  great*  r  size  and  power  than  any  yet  con- 
structed by  the  French.  Nearly  all  of  them  are  larger  than 
the  American  Ironsides  or  Roanoke,  and  several  of  them  are 
longer  and  of  greater  tonnage  than  the  Dunderberg,  our  largest 
iron-clad.  A  brief  description  of  three  of  these  vessels  will 
enable  the  reader  to  compare  them  with  our  own  iron-plated 
■  t,  and  to  judge  whether  we  have  reason  for  apprehension 
should  we  be  compelled  to  meet  them. 

The  Warrior  and  the  Black  Prince  are  regarded  as  the 
model  ships  of  the  inm  navy  of  England,  and  they  maybe 
considered  as  embodying  the  utmost  skill  and  science  of  Great 
Britain  at  the  present  time.     These  ships  are  380  feet  long  ; 


15 

their  tonnage  is  6,000  tons  ;  their  draught  is,  of  the  one,  22 
feet  9  inches,  and  of  the  Black  Prince,  26  feet  3  inches. 
They  each  carry  forty  guns  :  twenty-eight  68-pounder,  and 
twelve  100-pounder  Armstrong  guns.  Their  crew  is  704  men. 
Their  armor-plates  are  four  and  a  half  inches  thick,  and  the 
Warrior,  on  her  trial  trip,  had  a  speed  of  fourteen  knots,  and 
the  Black  Prince  ran  from  twelve  to  thirteen  knots  per  hour. 
Their  endues  are  of  1^250-horse  power. 

These  ships  are  only  plated  with  iron  for  two-thirds  of 
their  length,  the  how  and  stern  being,  as  English  writers  af- 
firm, more  vulnerable  than  a  common  wooden  ship.  The 
battery  only  is  protected  by  the  iron  mail,  while  about  sixty 
feet  of  the  stern  and  bow  are  like  a  common  vessel. 

The  Minotaur  is  400  feet  long  ;  her  tonnage  is  6,621 
tons  ;  her  engines  are  of  1,350-horse  power  ;  her  draught  is 
25  feet  8  inches,  and  she  is  to  carry  thirty-seven  guns.  Her 
speed  has  not  been  ascertained.  Portions  of  the  armor  of 
this  ship  are  said  to  be  six  inches  thick.  The  Bellerophon  is 
a  newly-devised  iron-clad,  now  being  built,  whose  coming  is 
thus  heralded  by  the  London  Times  :  She  will  be  "  as  ter- 
rihle  an  assailant  to  iron-clads  as  an  iron-clad  would  be  to 
wooden  ships.  The  object  with  which  this  vessel  is  designed 
is,  in  case  of  another  great  war,  to  awrid  repetition  of  the 
long  dreary  process  of  blockading  an  enemy's  fleet,  by  weari- 
some and  dangerous  cruising  off  the  mouth  of  harbors.  The 
Bellerophon  is,  in  short,  to  a  fleet  of  iron-clads  what  a  fox- 
terrier  is  to  a  pack  of  hounds.  In  case  of  an  enemy's  iron  fleet 
running  into  port,  she  can  follow  them  with  impunity." 

But  in  the  description  which  the  Times  gives  of  what  it 
calls  "  this  monster,"  one  fails  to  discover  the  immense  supe- 
riority which  is  claimed. 

She  is  300  feet  long,  56  feet  beam,  has  a  draught  of  25 
feet,  and  her  tonnage  is  4,246  tons.  "  It  is  hoped,"  if  certain 
improvements  work  well,  that  she  will  make  fifteen  knots  per 
hour ;  but  she  is  on  the  stocks  as  yet,  and  her  speed  is  yet  to 
be  determined.  Her  armor-plates  are  six  inches  thick,  but 
they  reach  to  the  upper  deck  for  only  ninety  feet  of  the  ship's 


16 

length  ;  for  the  remaining  distance  of  two  hundred  and  ten 
feet,  the  plating  reaches  only  six  feet  above  the  water,  and 
all  above  this  line  and  Loth  ends  of  the  vessel  arc  unprotected. 
She  is  to  he  armed  with  ten  broadside  guns,  of  what  size  wc 
are  not  informed,  and  probably  that  is  not  yet  determined. 

The  New  York  Times  of  22nd  February,  18G4,  has  the 
following  notice  of  the  Bellcrophon  : 

"The  London  Times  of  22d  February  admonishes  the  naval 
powers  of  the  world  that  England  is  now  building  an  armored 
ship  that  will  be  '  as  terrible  an  assailant  to  iron-clads  as  an 
iron-clad  would  be  to  wooden  ships.'  Our  contemporary,  at  a 
loss  for  a  word  that  will  convey  a  proper  idea  of  the  nature 
of  the  new  fearful  engine  of  war,  calls  it  a 'monster.'  The 
object,  we  are  told,  i  with  which  this  vessel  is  designed  is,  in 
case  of  another  great  naval  war,  to  avoid  repetition  of  the 
long,  dreary  work  of  blockading  an  enemy's  fleet  by  weari- 
some and  dangerous  cruising  off  the  mouth  of  harbors.  The 
Bellcrophon  (the  monster's  name)  is,  in  short,  to  a  fleet  of 
iron-clads  what  a  fox-terrier  is  to  a  pack  of  hounds.  In  case 
of  an  enemy's  iron  fleet  running  into  port,  she  can  follow  them 
with  impunity.' 

"  The  confident  tone  in  which  the  new-comer  is  heralded 
would  naturally  lead^o  the  supposition  that  some  startling 
principle  had  been  developed  in  the  art  of  constructing  and 
propelling  ships,  some  new  material  discovered  of  greater 
power  to  resist  projectiles  than  hitherto  known,  some  new 
mode  of  constructing  ordnance  devised  for  doubling  or  quad- 
rupling the  present  charge  of  powder.  Nothing  of  the  kind 
— the  Bellcrophon  is  simply  an  iron  vessel  300  feet  long,  56 
feet  beam,  25  feet  draft,  and  4/24G  tons  burden.  Nor  does 
the  motive-power  to  be  applied  present  any  remarkable  fea- 
tures. '  It  is  hoped'  that  by  working  steam  expansively,  and 
by  adopting  some  other  modern  improvements,  to  reduce  the 
cousin  notion  of  coal  to  2}  pounds  per  horse-power  per  hour. 
'  If  this  great  result  be  effected/  says  our  contemporary,  '  she 
can  be  depended  upon  at  sea  to  average  15  knots.'  But,  as 
he  admits  that  the  Black  Prince,  which  is  provided  with  the 


17 

best  machinery  that  England  could  produce  a  year  or  two 
ago,  consumes  4J  pounds  per  horse-power  per  hour,  the  hope 
expressed  will  scarcely  be  realized.  Thus,  neither  the  size  of 
the  terrible  ship,  nor  her  speed,  present  anything  extraordi- 
nary. 

"  The  '  monster/  therefore,  to  justify  the  name,  should  be 
absolutely  impregnable  and  carry  armament  of  such  weight 
and  disposition  as  to  render  opposition  hopeless.  Fortunately 
we  are  not  left  to  conjecture  on  these  points.  Everything  is 
described  by  our  contemporary  with  the  utmost  exactness. 
We  are  told  that  the  impenetrable  armor  of  the  Bellerophon 
is  composed  of  six-inch  solid  plating  backed — we  beg  our 
readers  not  to  question  our  accuracy — backed  by  nine  inches 
of  teak  wood  attached  directly  to  the  thin  skin  of  the  iron 
hull.  It  was  only  last  week  that  a  six-inch  solid  plate, 
manufactured  at  a  celebrated  establishment  in  France,  was 
shot  through  and  broken  into  fragments  at  the  first  discharge 
from  a  fifteen-inch  gun  at  Washington  Navy  Yard.  We  are 
aware  that  the  English  know  nothing  of  such  heavy  guns, 
and  that,  at  Shoeburyness,  their  trial-ground,  guns  of  fifteen-, 
inch  calibre,  and  their  unhandy  450-pound  shot,  are  not  to  be 
met  with.  Small  calibres  and  elongated,  handsomely  turned 
projectiles  of  high  initial  velocity,  are  alone  tolerated  at 
Shoeburyness — always  excepting  the  wonderful  spherical  68- 
pounder.  Velocity  is  everything  at  the  English  official 
target  exhibitions.  The  shaking  of  foundations  and  breaking 
armor-plates  all  to  pieces  at  the  first  discharge  with  the  lum- 
bering fifteen-inch  shot,  Yankee  fashion ,  has  no  charm  for  the 
scientific  artillerists  of  Shoeburyness.  These  savans  delight 
in  noting  the  gradual  extensions  of  small  cracks  produced  by 
the  impacts  of  the  shot,  and  their  interesting  ramifications 
with  other  small  cracks  contiguous  to  certain  bolt-holes.  An 
armor-plate,  which  at  the  end  of  a  day's  trial  exhibits  such 
marks  in  profusion,  is  contemplated  with  much  satisfaction. 
It  furnishes  matter  for  interesting  speculation  on  the  subject 
of  momentum  and  cohesive  force. 

"  We  have  stated  the  thickness  of  the  Bellerophon's  armor 
2 


18 

— we  will' now  describe  how  this  impenetrable  mail  is  distrib- 
uted  over  the  ship.  Only  90  feet  of  the  entire  length  is  pro- 
tected  by  armor  reaching  the  upper  deck.  The  remainder  is 
merely  eased  by  an  armor-bell  extending  six  feet  above  and 
five  feet  below  water.  A.bove  this  belt  both  ends  of  the  ship, 
for  a  distance  of  210  feet,  are  composed  merely  of  the  ordinary 
thin  plating  common  to  all  iron  vessels.  The  quarters  of  the 
officers  and  men  are,  therefore,  wholly  unprotected  against 
shot,  and  may  be  riddled  by  transverse  or  raking  fire  by  guns 
of  any  calibre.  No  provision  is  made  for  defending  the  ends 
of  the  ship.  Five  broadside  guns  on  each  side,  placed  fifteen 
feet  apart,  compose  her  entire  armament.  A  turret  vessel  of 
adequate  speed  may  keep  close  to  the  stern  of  the  Bellero- 
phon,  or  lap  her  sides  for  sixty  feet,  without  being  'molested 
by  her  guns.  Let  us  imagine  the  Dictator,  with  her  power, 
to  direct  her  entire  batteiy  over  the  bow,  placed  as  we  have 
stated,  how  long  would  the  'monster'  endure  the  raking  shot 
from  the  fifteen-inch  guns  which  would  plow  through  from  end 
to  end  ?  Bulkheads  would  avail  little  against  a  shot  which  we 
have  proved  can  crush  a  six-inch  solid  plate  into  fragments. 
The  unprotected  character  of  the  ends  of  the  Bellerophon  be- 
ing admitted,  our  contemporary  observes:  'In  action,  of 
course,  all  the  i  fficere  and  crew  would  be  in  the  battery,  or 
below  the  line  of  the  armor.'  But  where  will  these  officers 
and  men  go  after  the  action  ?  Their  quarters,  in  the  mean- 
lime,  have  been  utterly  demolished  by  flie  shells  that  have 
riddled  the  thin  skin  of  the  vessel  thai  formed  their  only  pro- 
tection, and  the  openings  made  by  the  explosion  of  our  fifteen- 
inch  shells,  sufficient  to  admit  hoise  and  cart,  will,  in  a  sea- 
way, let  in  such  a  quantity  of  water  as  to  defy  the  power  of 
steam  and  centrifugal  pnni)  s.  But  we  have  shown  that  even 
the  central  portion  of  the  Bellerophon  which  protects  her  guns 
is  not  of  sufficient  thickness  to  be  proof  against  shot  from  our 
fifteen-inch  guns.  Lotus  now  consider  that  in  our  turret  ships 
of  the  Dictator  and  Kalamazoo  class,  the  gnus  arc  protected 
by  fifteen  inches'  thickness,  while  the  hulls  arc  protected  by 
ten  inches'  thickness  of  plating  and  wrought  slabs,  backed  by 


19 

three  and  a  half  feet  thickness  of  oak.  We  are  surprised,  un- 
der these  circumstances,  at  the  absurd  pretensions  of  the  Lon- 
don Times,  and  still  more  to  find  the  British  Admiralty,  after 
so  many  costly  experiments,  sanction  the  construction  of  iron- 
clads so  erroneous  in  principle  as  the  Bellerophon.  Could  it 
be  shown  that  higher  speed  is  attainable  on  this  plan,  it 
might  be  argued  that  such  a  ship  can  take  up  her  own  posi- 
tion and  thereby  mitigate  the  evils  of  erroneous  construction  ; 
but  so  far  from  the  Bellerophon  being  able  to  carry  a  greater 
amount  of  motive-power  to  her  tonnage  than  other  ships,  her 
side-armor  is  twice  as  heavy  as  that  of  our  large  turreted  iron- 
clads of  the  Dictator  type,  which  latter,  therefore,  besides 
their  impregnability,  wil  carry  a  greater  amount  of  motive- 
power,  compared  with  their  displacement,  than  the  English 
'  monster.' " 

Of  iron-mailed  vessels,  of  the  general  character  described 
— most  of  them,  however,  somewhat  smaller — England  has 
between  twenty  and  thirty  built,  or  in  process  of  construction. 
Like  those  of  France,  they  are  all  broadside  ships,  and,  of 
course,  expose  an  immense  surface  to  an  enemy's  fire.  The 
importance  of  this  will  appear,  when  they  are  compared  with 
the  American  Monitor  form  of  war-ship. 

The  objections  made  to  the  French  ships  are,  that  they 
cannot  use  their  batteries  except  when  the  sea  is  smooth, 
and  that,  in  rough  weather,  they  roll  so  as  to  render  them  not 
only  uncomfortable,  but  dangerous.  The  English  ships 
require  from  25  to  26  feet  of  water,  and  are,  therefore,  unable 
to  enter  our  principal  harbors.  From  their  great  size,  they 
are  unwieldy  ;  the  joints  of  their  armor-plates  work  in  a  sea, 
and  leak  ;  they  do  not  steer  safely ;  and,  from  the  general 
tone  of  English  criticisms,  one  is  led  to  infer  that  they  are  by 
no  means  satisfied  with  the  performance  of  the  iron  fleet. 
But,  as  neither  the  French  nor  English  ships  have  been,  as 
yet,  tested  in  battle;  no  very  definite  opinion  of  their  qualities 
can  be  formed. 

We  know,  however,  exactly  the  effect  which  certain  kinds 
of  artillery  will  produce   upon  iron  plates,   such  as   those 


20 

which  form  their  armor;  and  as  the  American  ships  have 
id  exposed,  at  short  range,  to  the  heaviest  cannon  and  the 
most  destructive  shot  which  England  could  furnish  to  the 
rebels,  while  at  the  same  time  our  guns  have  been  tried  upon 
armor-plates  in  action,  we  have  the  means  of  forming  a  very 
accurate  opinion  of  our  power  for  attack  or  defence,  as  com- 
pared with  other  nations. 

The  condition  and  character  of  the  American  navy  de- 
mands a  separate  chapter,  and  this  will  involve,  also,  a 
description  of  our  artillery,  and  then  all  will  lie  able  to  make 
the  proper  comparison  between  our  navy  and  those  of  Europe. 


THE   AMERICAN   NAVY. 

At  the  commencement  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  our 
navy  consisted  of  only  forty-six  vessels.  In  December,  1864, 
it  numbered  671  vessels,  mounted  with  4,G10  guns.  The 
aggregate  tonnage  of  these  ships  was  about  510,000  tons. 

The  creation  of  such  a  navy  in  so  short  a  time,  considering 
the  number  and  character  of  the  vessels,  is  without  a  parallel 
in  the  history  of  war.  It  is  at  once  a  most  cheering  proof  of 
the  vast  resources  of  our  country,  and  of  the  wisdom  and 
energy  with  which  our  Navy  Department  has  been  conducted. 
In  the  brief  space  between  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  and 
December,  18G4,  the  country  has  'been  elevated  into  a  first  - 
elass  naval  power  ;  and,  probably,  those  who  have  been  dis- 
posed to  criticise  the  operations  of  the  Secretary  would  find 
it  very  difficult  to  point  out  a  course  by  which  the  safety 
and  honor  of  the  country  would  have  been  more  securely 
guarded. 

It  is  no  small  proof  of  ability  in  the  management  of  the 
navy,  that  there  was  skill  enough  to  provide,  and  indepen- 
dence  enough  to  use,  a  form  of  war-ship  and  a  kind  of  cannon 
before  untried,  but  which  time  and  experience  have  shown 
were  alone,  of  all  ships  and  weapons  then  known,  capable 
of  meeting  the  emergency. 


21 

Had  there  been  a  frigate  built  like  the  Warrior  in  Hampton 
Eoads  at  the  time  of  the  appearance  of  the  Merrimac,  and 
armed  with  the  Warrior's  guns,  there  are  good  reasons  for 
believing  that  she  would  have  been  overmatched  by  the  rebel 
ship.  The  Merrimac,  with  her  heavy  armament  and  her 
sloping  armor,  could  not,  probably,  at  that  time,  have  been 
beaten  by  any  ship  afloat,  except  the  Monitor.  The  Monitors 
and  the  fifteen-inch  guns  have  rendered  the  creation  of  a 
rebel  navy  impossible,  and  these  alone  could  have  done  it  ; 
and  this  is  a  sufficient  answer  to  all  by  whom  they  have  been 
condemned. 

This  subject,  however,  will  be  more  fully  discussed  in 
another  place.  The  American  navy  is  an  original  creation. 
In  the  forms  of  its  most  powerful  ships,  and  the  character  of 
its  armament,  it  is  unlike  every  other. 

A  thorough  study  of  all  the  other  navies  of  the  world  would 
give  no  data  from  which  to  judge  of  the  efficiency  of  the 
American  vessels.  One  would  be  entirely  deceived  by  count- 
ing their  guns,  or  estimating  their  length,  breadth,  and 
tonnage,  or  the  number  of  their  crews.  These  things  alone 
do  not  inform  us  whether  they  are  superior  or  inferior  to  the 
war-ships  of  other  nations.  They  are  modelled  after  new  and 
strictly  American  ideas.  Whether  good  or  bad,  they  belong 
entirely  to  this  new  world.  They  are  creations  of  this  West- 
ern Republic.  Not  alone  our  Monitors,  but  our  other  ships, 
are  American  in  their  fitting  up,  and  in  the  character  of 
their  weapons.  Judged  by  the  old  standards,  nothing  is  more 
deceitful.  An  American  ship  of  two  guns,  of  the  latest 
model,  may,  perhaps,  prove  a  match  for  a  common  forty-gun 
frigate  ;  and  it  is  very  certain  that  we  have  two-gun  vessels, 
one  of  which  might  destroy  the  whole  fleet  with  which  Nelson 
fought.  It  is  necessary,  then,  to  know  both  the  character 
and  the  armament  of  our  war-vessels  before  we  can  judge  of 
their  efficiency.  The  following  statements  will  furnish  the 
necessary  information  : 

It  will,  probably,  not  be  denied  that,  up  to  the  time  of  the 
invention  of  armor-clad  vessels,  the  Americans  had  been  the 


99 


teachers  of  the  nations  in  the  art  of  ship-building,  whether 
Bail  or  steam  vessels,  whether  for  commerce  or  for  war. 
Great  length,  as  compared  with  tonnage,  sharpness  of  bow, 
and  speed,  were  characteristics  of  American  ships  and  steam- 
boats. It  is  not  deemed  exaggeration  that  American  genius 
has  revolutionized  naval  architecture,  and  that  the  speed  of 
European  ships  has  been  obtained  by  following,  in  the  main, 
the  model  of  the  vessels  of  the  United  States.  The  ocean 
tub  has  been  displaced  everywhere  by  the  long,  graceful 
structure,  which- first  of  all  bore  the  Stripes  and  Stars.  The 
London  Times  sneered  at  the  Niagara  when  she  went  over  to 
aid  in  laying  the  Atlantic  cable  ;  but  the  finest  frigates  and 
corvettes  which  England  has  since  built  have  assumed  the 
Yankee  form,  and  their  boasted  Warrior  appears  like  a 
Niagara  somewhat  magnified. 

A  writer  in  an  English  quarterly  boasts  that  the  British 
ocean  mail-steamers  have  driven  the  American  ones  from  the 
seas  ;  but  he  forgets  to  state  that  the  Collins  line  furnished 
the  model  for  her  ships,  and  that  the  American  line  failed 
only  because,  in  a  new  enterprise,  and  one  so  expensive,  pri- 
vate capital  could  not  contend  against  the  patronage  of  the 
British  government. 

Had  our  government  given  a  liberal  and  steady  support 
to  our  own  vessels,  there  would  have  been  a  different  result. 
The  fact  that  our  steamers  have  obtained  a  speed  of  twenty- 
five  miles  per  hour  upon  the  Hudson  ;  that  some  of  our  lake- 
vessels  have  made  twenty-two  miles  per  hour  for  hours  to- 
gether— such  steamships  as  the  Vanderbilt  and  those  of  the 
California  line  ;  and  the  fact  that  our  new  war-steamers 
overhaul  the  swiftest  steamers  that  our  English  friends  have 
built  to  run  the  blockade  ;  these  things  do  not  indicate  that 
We  Bhall  be  very  soon  driven  from  the  ocean  by  the  superiority 
of  the  vessels  of  other  nations. 

Such  of  our  iron-clads  as  are  yet  afloat  lack  speed,  but  the 
main  idea  in  their  construction  was  invulnerability  j  and  the 
evenl  has  shown,  that  if  this  had  been  sacrificed  to  speed  or 
any  other  quality,  it  would  have  been  fatal  to  our  navy  and 
our  country's  cause. 


23 

There  is  great  reason  to  be  thankful  that  those  at  the 
head  of  our  navy  were  wise  enough,  in  the  first  experiment 
upon  which  our  all  depended,  to  construct  ships  which  no 
artillery  of  the  enemy  could  penetrate  ;  for  upon  that  single 
question  the  destiny  of  the  country  was  at  that  moment 
hung. 

The  best  and  most  destructive  projectiles  of  Europe  were 
hurled  against  our  ships  at  Charlestona  and  Europe  was 
watching  earnestly  the  result.  It  would  inform  England  and 
France  whether  intervention  would  be  safe. 

The  only  armored  vessel  of  the  common  form  which 
attacked  Fort  Darling  was  ruined  by  ten-inch  shot ;  and  the 
only  Monitor-shaped  ship  in  which  speed  was  aimed  at  in  the 
construction,  was  riddled  and  sunk  at  Charleston. 

Had  all  our  vessels  at  Charleston  been  as  vulnerable  as  the 
Keokuk,  the  rebel  cause  would  have  triumphed  at  home  and 
abroad,  though  our  fleet  had  been  the  swiftest  on  the  ocean. 

Four  distinct  eras  appear  in  the  creation  of  our  navy.  In 
one  of  these  we  followed  the  European  models,  and  failed  to 
produce  an  effective  ship.  The  distinctive  American  idea 
has  controlled  the  other  three — the  placing  the  heaviest 
possible  armament  in  the  smallest  possible  space — thus 
diminishing  the  size  of  the  ship  in  proportion  to  her  arma- 
ment, presenting  a  smaller  surface  to  an  enemy's  shot,  and 
lessening  the  number  of  the  crew.  If  to  this  is  added  the 
American  idea  of  a  heavy  shot  with  a  low  velocity,  rather 
than  a  small  one  with  greater  velocity,  the  idea  of  a  smashing 
projectile  rather  than  a  penetrating  one,  the  reader  will  have 
the  leading  principles  which  have  governed  the  construction 
of  the  American  navy  and  the  manufacture  of  American 
cannon.  Through  various  steps  and  countless  experiments, 
these  ideas  have  led  to  the  Monitors  and  the  fifteen-inch  and 
twenty -inch  guns,  while,  at  the  same  time,  every  effort  has 
been  made  to  perfect  our  rifled  cannon. 

The  ships  with  which  the  Americans  won  their  first  naval 
renown,  in  the  war  of  1812-15,  were  constructed  with  the 
intention  of  bringing  the  armament  of  a  line-of-battle  ship 


24 

within  the  limi  of  a  frigate.  This  was  bo  nearly  accom- 
plished as  to  fill  England  with  astonishment  and  alarm.  It 
was  found  that  the  registered  rate  of  our  vessels  by  no  means 
indicated  their  actual  power  ;  and  the  result  was,  that  when 
the  Guerriere,  a  British  forly-four-gun  frigate,  was  laid  along- 
side the  Constitution,  an  American  forty-four,  the  English 
frigate  was  demolished  iii  dfteen  minutes.  Similar  results 
followed,  as  is  well  known,  in  other  actions  ;  and  though  it 
was  (oiic,  (led  that  the  rapidity  of  the  American  fire  was 
generally  greater  than  that  of  the  English,  still  our  almost 
unbroken  success  was  probably  mainly  due  to  the  superior 
weight  of  the  American  broadside.  The  manner  in  which  the 
American  idea  of  a  heavy  armament  was  carried  out,  will 
appear  from  the  following  comparison  between  British  and 
American  ships  which  fought  in  the  war  of  1812-15.  The 
figures  rest  upon  the  authority  of  "  James's  Naval  History,'' 
and  "  Cooper,"  as  quoted  by  Mr.  Alison.  The  weight  of  the 
broadside  is  thus  stated  : 

American  frigate  Constitution,  .         .         .  768  lbs. 

American  frigate  United  States,  .            ...  864  lbs. 

British  frigate  Guerriere,          .  ...  51Y  H><. 

British  frigate  Macedonian,  .  ....  528  lbs. 

The  advantage  thus  gained  was  decisive,  and  the  results 
gave  an  rclat  and  character  to  the  American  navy  which  it 
has  never  lost.  It  was  the  first  triumph  of  American  sagacity 
on  the  ocean,  and  it  has  shaped  since  their  whole  naval 
policy.  The  character  of  the  America!)  frigate  of  that  period 
will  more  fully  appear  from  another  comparison.  The  Nona  u 
Biutisii,  for  August,  1863,  states,  upon  the  authority  of 
"James's  Naval  History/'  the  broadside  of  a  hundred-gnu 
ship — the  three-decker,  such  as  Nelson  fought  with— at 
1,2G0  lbs. 

The  broadside  of  the  United  States  frigate  was  SG41bs., 

I *e    than   two-thirds  of  that  of  tip'    English  line-of-battle 

ship  with  her  one  hundred  guns. 

The  American   and  English   ideas  will   appear  still   more 
strongly  contrasted  by  another  statement.     According  to  the 


25 

North  British,  in  the  article  alluded  to,  the  English  ship-of- 
thc-line  in  the  beginning  of  this  century,  in  the  time  of 
Nelson,  averaged  about  2,000  tons'  burden,  and  her  broadside 
weighed  1,260  lbs.  Now  the  Warrior's  tonnage  is  more  than 
6,000  tons,  and  the  weight  of  her  broadside  is  no  more  than 
1,612  lbs!  The  American  frigate  Minnesota  is  of  3,300 
tons'  burden,  but  the  weight  of  her  broadside  is  about 
2,500  lbs. 

One  of  our  sloops,  like  the  Brooklyn,  throws  a  broadside 
equal  in  weight,  and  far  more  than  equal  in  efficiency,  to  that 
of  the  old  English  hundred-gun  ship.  The  difference  between  a 
British  and  American  ship  is  again  illustrated  by  the  Amer- 
ican New  Ironsides  and  the  English  Warrior,  both  iron- clads, 
and  representative  ships.  The  American  frigate  is  3,400 
tons'  burden,  the  Warrior  a  little  more  than  6,000  tons.  The 
American  ship  throws  a  broadside  about  equal  in  weight  to 
that  of  the  British  vessel,  which  is  nearly  double  her  size  ; 
and  to  make  the  American  idea  stand  forth  more  prominent, 
the  new  Ironsides  mounts  only  eighteen  guns,  while  the 
Warrior  carries  forty. 

Again  :  the  turreted  frigate  Koanoke  throws  from  her  six 
guns  a  weight  of  metal,  at  a  broadside,  almost  equal  to  that 
of  the  Warrior  when  using  twenty  guns  on  a  side  ;  and,  if 
armed  with  six  fifteen-inch  guns,  as  she  can  be  if  needed,  her 
broadside  from  these  six  cannon  would  exceed  that  of  the 
Warrior's  guns  by  at  least  one  thousand  pounds. 

These  facts  present,  very  clearly,  the  peculiarities  of 
American  ships  and  American  artillery,  and  the  difference 
between  them  and  the  vessels  and  cannon  of  Europe.  They 
show  that  the  American  mind  is  not  working  at  random  in 
regard  to  our  weapons  of  war,  but  in  accordance  with  original 
and  clearly-defined  ideas.  The  second  era  in  the  construc- 
tion of  the  United  States  navy  began  after  the  war  of  1812- 
'15,  in  which  an  effort  was  made  to  follow  the  European 
model  of  the  three-deck  line-of-battle  ship.  It  resulted  in 
those  failures  which  are  now  used  for  receiving-ships,  such  as 
the  Ohio,   the  North  Carolina,   the   Pennsylvania,   and  the 


26 

Vermont,  which  arc  utterly  worthless,  except  as  a  sort  of 
floating  warehouse.  The  American  mind  does  not  work  suc- 
cessfully in  European  harness.  In  the  third  era  there  was  a 
return  to  the  American  idea,  and  it  produced  such  frigates 
as  the  Minnesota,  the  Wabash,  the  Merrimac,  the^  Roanoke, 
and  the  Niagara.  They  were  by  no  means  perfect  ships. 
They  failed  in  speed  ;  but  still  they  were  the  most  formidable 
frigates  afloat.  The  direction  which  American  improvement 
has  taken  is  indicated:  by  the  Minnesota,  whose  battery  of 
fifty  guns  throws  more  than  twice  the  weight  of  shot,  at  a 
broadside,  than  was  thrown  by  the  hundred-gun  ship  of 
Nelson's  time,  while  the  British  Warrior,  three  times  the  size 
of  the  old  three-decker,  uses  less  than  400  lbs.  more  shot  than 
the  "  old  liner  "  in  a  broadside. 

The  French  and  English  hundred  and  hundred-and- 
twenty-gun  ships,  that  were  fought  at  Trafalgar  and  the 
Nile,  would  be  greatly  overmatched  by  such  a  frigate  as  the 
Minnesota,  with  her  heavy  guns,  and  firing  shell  horizontally, 
as  the  Russians  did  at  Sinope,  and  by  which  the  Turkish 
fleet  was  destroyed. 

The  fourth  era  in  the  creation  of  the  navy  of  the  United 
States  has  been  marked  by  the  introduction  of  three  new 
classes  of  ships  :  the  swift,  heavily-armed,  wooden  corvette, 
such  as  the  Lackawanna,  the  Canandaigua,  and  the  Sacra- 
mento ;  the  still  swifter,  double-bowed  steamers,  like  the 
Sassacus  and  the  Eutaw  ;  and  the  various  forms  of  iron-clads, 
of  which  the  Monitors  are  the  most  numerous.  This  period 
has  also  been  distinguished  by  a  new  form  of  American  can- 
non ;  and  these  new  ships  and  this  new  artillery  have,  it  is 
believed,  revolutionized  the  art  of  war,  both  by  sea  and  land. 
The  reasons  for  such  a  belief  will  appear  from  what  follows. 
As  lias  been  stated  in  a  previous,  chapter,  France  and  Eng- 
land began  the  construction  of  iron-clad  vessels  soon  after 
the  close  of  the  Crimean  war — France  in  1858,  and  England 
somewhat  later.  The  general  character  of  these  ships  has 
been  already  described.  The  rebel  leaders,  in  preparing  for 
rebellion,  had  made  themselves  familiar  with  these  opera- 


27 

tions  in  Europe,  and,  almost  immediately  after  the  war  had 
begun,  turned  their  attention  to  the  preparation  of  a  formi- 
dable iron-clad  ship. 

They  had  seized  the  most  important  navy-yard  of  the 
country — that  of  Norfolk — though  not  before  the  vessels  lying 
there  had  been  scuttled  or  set  on  fire  and  sunk.  Anions 
these  was  the  frigate  Merrimac,  of  the  class  of  the  Minne- 
sota, of  about  3,200  tons'  burden.  This  ship  the  Confeder- 
ates soon  raised,  and  proceeded  to  convert  her  into  an  iron- 
clad battery  and  ram.  In  size  she  was  about  equal  to  the 
New  Ironsides,  to  which  ship  she  bore  some  general  external 
resemblance.  There  was  nothing  original  in  her  construe- 
tion.  Her  armor  formed  an  angle  with  her  sides,  covering 
her  deck  and  guns  after  the  manner  of  a  roof,  according  to  a 
plan  which  had  been  proposed  but  not  adopted  in  England, 
at  least  in  her  first-class  vessels. 

In  the  absence  of  official  information,  the  exact  form  and 
thickness  of  her  armor  cannot  be  stated.  It  has  been 
variously  described,  some  believing  it  to  have  been  formed  of 
railroad  iron,  and  others  stating  that  she  was  mailed  with 
plates,  four  inches  or  four  and  a  half  inches  in  thickness. 
One  important  test  was,  however,  applied,  which  showed 
more  conclusively  her  powers  of  resistance  than  any  meas- 
uring the  thickness  of  iron  plates  could  have  done.  She  was 
attacked  with  nine-inch,  ten-inch,  and  eleven-inch  guns, 
their  shot  weighing,  respectively,  about  100  lbs.,  128  lbs., 
and  169  lbs.  The  heaviest  guns  of  the  Minnesota,  the  Cum- 
berland, and  the  Congress  made  no  impression  upon  her,  and, 
although  the  Monitor  engaged  her  for  five  hours  with  eleven- 
inch  guns,  and,  at  times,  only  a  few  yards  from  her  side,  it  is 
not  known,  certainly,  that  her  armor  was  once  penetrated, 
although  compelled  to  haul  off  and  signal  for  assistance,  her 
hull  shattered  by  the  smashing  power  of  the  heavy  shot  that 
yet  did  not  pass  through  her  armor.  This  proves  that  she 
was  a  vessel  of  the  most  formidable  character,  and  that  her 
mail  was  equal  in  resisting  shot  to  that  of  any  French  or 
English  vessel  which  had  then  been  built.     Her  destructive 


28 

power  was  sufficiently  shown,  by  her  shattering  and  sinking, 
in  a  few  minutes,  with  perfect  ease,  and  with  not  the  slight- 
est inconvenience  to  herself,  so  far  as  is  known,  two  heavily- 
armed  wooden  ships.     She  destroyed  them  as  readily  as  if 

they  had  been  hark  canoes,  and  no  one  doubts  that  the  Min- 
nesota would  have  shared  the  same  fate,  had  the  Merrimac 
been  suffered  to  approach  her.  The  wooden  navies  of  the 
world  were  virtually  sunk  with  the  Congress  and  Cumber- 
land, and  from  that  time  it  was  evident  that  the  ships  which 
were  to  rule  the  seas  in  future  were  yet  to  be  built.  The 
ocean-sceptre  of  Britian  was  broken  by  the  blow  which 
crushed  in  the  sides  of  the  Cumberland,  and  all  nations  were 
to  start  anew  in  the  creation  of  navies.  England,  said  the 
Times,  had  but  two  ships. 

The  morning  after  the  destruction  of  the  Congress  and 
Cumberland  was  the  most  hopeful  one,  and  the  proudest  one, 
that  ever  rose  on  the  slavcholding  Confederacy.  They 
seemed  to  have  a  war-engine  capable  of  destroying  with  ease 
the  whole  American  navy,  and  of  entering  any  harbor,  of  cap- 
turing or  burning  all  our  sea-coast  cities.  If  the  Merrimac 
was  indeed  a  sea-boat,  all  this  was  really  within  reach  of  the 
rebels,  so  far  as  then  was  known.  It  is  believed  that  nothing 
could  have  prevented  her,  if  opposed  only  by  our  wooden 
ships,  or  our  forts  as  they  then  were,  from  reaching  Washing- 
ton, Philadelphia,  or  New  York. 

Had  she  succeeded  in  this,  it  probably  is  not  too  much  to 
say,  that  the  cause  of  the  Union  would  have  been  lost.  The 
Christians  of  the  country  will  never  cease  to  believe  that  it 
was  the  special  interposition  of  God  which  brought  the  Moni- 
tor to  the  scene  of  action  just  in  the  hour  of  the  country's 
atesl  need,  and  put  an  end  to  the  career  of  the  sea-giant 
which  threatened  to  crush  us  at  a  blow. 

The  Merrimac  had  settled,  conclusively,  the  helplessness 
of  a  wooilen  ship,  or  squadron  of  ships,  when  attacked  by  an 
iron-clad.  This  was  a  mailed  ship,  patterned  in  general  after 
the  European  model,  differing  mainly  in  her  sloping  armor; 
but   the  next  day  she  was  met    by  a   war-ship  such  as  the 


29 

world  never  saw  before,  a  fresh  invention  of  the  genius  of  the 
West,  a  hurried,  rough,  imperfect  embodying  of  an  idea 
destined  to  work  another  revolution  in  the  structure  of  ships 
and  the  methods  of  naval  war.  The  reader  should  remember 
the  size  of  the  Merrimac  in  order  to  judge  correctly  the  com- 
bat which  followed.  Her  tonnage  was  more  than  twice  as 
great  as  that  of  the  frigates  Constitution  and  United  States, 
with  which  the  victories  of  1S12-'15  were  won,  and  almost 
twice  as  great  as  that  of  the  hundred-gun  ships  of  the  time 
of  Nelson.  She  ranked  with  the  most  formidable  iron-clads 
of  Europe,  for  she  was  completely  mailed,  and  her  angulated 
armor  was  thought  to  give  her  an  advantage  even  over  these. 

The  next  morning  after  the  terrible  feat  with  which  she 
had  startled  the  country,  she  came  forth  for  the  purpose  of 
destroying  the  Minnesota,  and  then  she  intended,  as  was 
thought,  to  proceed  at  once  to  Washington  and  the  Northern 
cities. 

As  she  approached  the  Minnesota,  her  progress  was  inter- 
rupted by  a  strange-looking  something,  no  one  on  board  the 
frigate  knew  what.  "  A  cheese-box  on  a  raft,"  they  called 
the  queer  little  boat,  raft,  or  canoe,  or  whatever  it  might  be. 
The  huge,  mailed  monster  seemed  at  first  disposed  to  take 
no  notice  of  this  diminutive  craft,  and  steered  for  the  Minne- 
sota. But  the  first  shot  from  her  small  adversary-  was  a 
startling  proof  of  power. 

The  practised  ear  was  taught  by  that  report  that  the 
new-comer  had  at  least  one  formidable  gun.  The  Merrimac 
stopped  her  engines  and  paused  to  observe  her  little  enemy. 
It  came  straight  on,  showing  no  sign  of  fear,  indicating  a 
wish  to  come  at  once  to  close  action.  The  first  shot  which 
struck  the  Merrimac  showed  her  officers  that  the  Monitor 
was  throwing  projectiles  of  unusual  weight,  and  created 
some  anxiety,  which  was  by  no  means  lessened  when  they 
found  that  their  own  broadside  made  no  impression  upon  the 
little  turret,  which  hurled  forth  shot  in  return,  whose  stroke 
made  the  huge  ship  shudder.  Fearing  for  the  result,  at 
length,  the  Merrimac  undertook  to  do  what  many  think  so 


30 

easily  clone — to  run  the  Monitor  clown  and  sink  her.  She 
failed,  but  in  the  attempt  exposed  herself  more  than  before  to 
the  Monitor's  shot,  while  the  Monitor  was  uninjured.  This 
first  battle  of  the  iron-clads  continued  for  five  hours,  and 
then  the  Mcrrimac,  apparently  much  injured,  drew  off,  sig- 
naled for  aid,  and  was  accompanied  by  some  steam-tugs  back 
to  Norfolk.  This  was  the  end  of  her  career.  She  was  shortly 
after  blown  up,  rather  than  risk  her  in  another  action. 

In  its  bearings  upon  naval  war,  the  structure  of  war-ships, 
and  the  destinies  of  this  country  and  Europe,  this  may  be 
considered  the  most  important  naval  battle  of  modern  times. 
The  ships  engaged  in  it  so  far  represented  the  navies  of  the 
world,  that  safe  general  inferences  could  be  drawn  from  it  in 
regard  to  the  future. 

The  wooden  navies  of  Europe  and  the  United  States 
were  virtually  on  trial  there,  through  the  Minnesota,  the  Cum- 
berland, and  the  Congress.  The  iron-clads  of  France  and 
England  were  so  nearly  represented  by  the  Mcrrimac,  that  an 
opinion  formed  of  her  would  equally  apply  to  them  with  very 
little  modification  ;  while  the  Monitor  presented  the  rude 
germ  of  the  turreted  navy  which  the  United  States  lias 
constructed  since. 

The  result  was,  that  while  the  wooden  ships  were  as 
egg-^ulls  before  the  iron-plated  one,  the  little  turreted  ves- 
sel, with  her  two  heavy  guns,  defeated  and  drove  off,  with  no 
injury  to  herself,  a  first-class  iron-clad  broadside  frigate, 
armed  with  the  heaviest  guns  then  known  to  European  war. 

This  combat  not  only  saved  our  own  navy  and  our  cause, 
but  it  prevented  the  rebels  from  constructing  one,  by  de- 
stroying the  basis  of  it ;  and  showed  England  and  France 
that  the  Americans  could  build  a  ship  in  three  months  which 
would  be  a  formidable  antagonist  for  their  most  powerful 
frigates.  To  suppose  that  this  fact  had  no  bearing  upon 
their  policy,  is  to  believe  them  less  prudent  than  usual.  The 
Monitor  did,  indeed,  admonish  Europe  that  intervention  would 
be  dangerous.  Persistent  efforts  are  made  to  show  that  the 
Monitors  are  all  inefficient,  an  almost  worthless  class  of  ships, 


31 

Dot  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  broadside  frigates  of 
England  and  France,  and  that  the  Government  is  merely 
wasting  the  people's  money  in  their  construction. 

Before  entering  into  a  particular  discussion  of  the  pecu- 
liarities, merits,  and  defects  of  the  Monitors,  it  may  be  well 
to  offer  a  few  suggestions  in  regard  to  this  now  famous  battle  in 
Hampton  Eoads.  First,  let  it  be  asked,  How  would  that  fight 
have  terminated  had  the  Merrimac  encountered,  instead  of 
the  Monitor,  a  frigate  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  English 
Warrior  ?  The  Merrimac  was  plated,  it  is  said,  all  round  ; 
the  Warrior  only  for  two-thirds  of  her  length.  Considering  the 
terrible  effect  of  the  shells  of  the  Merrimac  upon  the  Con- 
gress and  Cumberland,  "  converting  them,"  as  an  English 
reviewer  says,  "  into  helpless,  burning  charnel-houses,"  how 
would  the  Warrior-built  frigate  have  escaped  a  similar  shat- 
tering in  her  unprotected  bow  and  stem  ?  The  Warrior  is 
armed  with  68-pounder  smooth-bores  and  twelve  100-pounder 
Armstrong  rifles.  "The  batteries  of  the  Cumberland  and  Min- 
nesota threw  heavier  shot  than  these,  and  made  no  impres- 
sion upon  the  Merrimac  ;  while  the  shot  of  the  Monitor 
weighed  169  pounds,  and,  by  some  statements,  ISO  pounds, 
and  these  were  fired  often  at  the  shortest  possible  range,  and 
yet  it  is  not  known  that  the  frigate's  armor  was  pierced. 

What  reason  is  there,  then,  for  supposing  that  such  a 
ship  as  the  Warrior  could  have  seriously  injured  the  Mer- 
rimac ?  and  how  much  reason  we  have,  on  the  contrary,  to 
think  that  the  rebel  frigate  would,  with  her  heavier  armament 
and  shell-guns,  have  been  victorious  ! 

Our  own  broadside  frigate,  the  New  Ironsides,  armed  as 
she  now  is,  would,  in  all  probability,  capture  or  destroy  such 
a  ship  as  the  Merrimac  ;  but  it  would  be  with  far  greater  risk 
than  was  run  by  the  Monitor,  because  her  ends,  like  those  of 
the  Warrior,  are  not  protected  by  armor.  At  Charleston, 
shells  pierced  these  unshielded  parts  at  the  distance  of  a 
mile  ;  and,  in  close  action  with  the  Merrimac,  she  might,  per- 
haps, have  been  seriously  injured,  or  destroyed  even,  by  her 
shells.     The  conclusion  seems  inevitable,  that,  for  the  pur- 


32 

pose  intended,  the  little  Monitor  was  bettor  adapted  than  any 
oilier  ship  then  afloat. 

Indeed,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  any  other  vessel  then 
in  existence  could  have  stopped  and  driven  back  into  Nor- 
folk this  formidable  iron-clad  of  the  rebels.  But  suppose 
that  one  of  the  new  Monitors  had  encountered  the  Merrimac 
with  fifteen-inch  instead  of  eleven-inch  guns.  It  is  now 
known,  both  from  the  fate  of  the  Atlanta  and  subsequent 
experiments,  that  a  few  minutes  would  have  sufficed  to  disable 
the  frigate.  While  the  eleven-inch  shot  did  not  pierce  the 
Atlanta's  armor,  the  fifteen-inch  gun  sent  its  shot  crashing 
through,  and  with  such  a  shock,  that  the  creAV  of  the  rebel 
ship  could  not  be  brought  back  to  their  guns. 

It  is  not,  then,  exaggeration  to  say,  as  the  Charleston 
correspondent  of  the  London  Times  has  done,  that  the  Amer- 
icans, since  the  rebellion  broke  out,  have  twice  revolutionized 
the  art  of  war — once  on  the  sea,  with  the  Monitors  and  their 
enormous  guns  ;  and  once  on  the  land,  with  their  new  rifled 
artillery. 

The  invention  of  the  Monitor  form  of  war-vessel  and  the 
heavy  cannon  have  saved  the  country,  at  least  for  the  present, 
from  intervention  and  foreign  war  ;  for  they  have  rendered  it 
certain  that  no  ship  known,  that  can  cross  the  ocean,  could 
withstand  an  attack  from  our  small  Monitors  even,  armed 
with  fifteen-inch  guns,  or  our  heaviest  rifled  one.  Experi- 
ments already  made  leave  no  doubt  on  this  jioint. 

The  extraordinary  performance  of  the  small  nondescript 
craft,  that  saved  from  destruction  our  finest  wooden  frigate, 
and  beat  off  the  first  iron-clad  frigate  that  ever  went  into 
action,  determined  the  Government  to  rely  mainly  upon  this 
class  of  ship  for  the  present  defence  of  our  harbors,  and  for 
the  reduction  of  the  sea-coast  fortifications  in  the  hands  of 
rebels.  As  large  sums  of  money  have  been  spent  upon  tl  is 
new  fleet,  and  as  severe  censure  has  been  cast  upon  the  Navy 
Department  on  this  account,  it  is  important  that  Americans 
should  fully  understand  what  the  peculiarities  are  of  those 
ships  which  the  Government  has  made  so  prominent  in  the 
creation  of  our  navv. 


33 

It  will  he  seen  that  Mr.  Ericsson,  in  his  Monitor  ship, 
has  aimed,  first,  to  carry  out  the  American  idea  of  the  heaviest 
possible  battery  in  the  smallest  possible  space  ;  and  then  to 
construct  an  iron-clad  vessel  with  the  least  possible  space  ex- 
posed to  the  enemy's  shot,  and  so  render  it  invulnerable  by 
thicker  armor  than  a  broadside  ship  can  carry.  As  an  example 
the  side-armor  of  the  Dictator  is  eleven  inches  thick,  and  her 
turret  is  fifteen  inches  thick.  She  is,  consequently,  invulner- 
able to  any  shot  yet  known,  but  no  broadside  ship  could 
swim  a  moment  cased  all  round  with  such  an  armor  as  that. 
Mr.  Ericsson  then  places  two  heavy  guns  in  a  revolving  tur- 
ret, whose  walls,  in  the  first  Monitor,  were  nine  inches  thick. 
This  turret  is  placed  upon  an  open  deck,  so  that  the  guns,  as 
the  turret  revolves,  can  be  fired  in  any  direction.  This  deck 
is  sunk  almost  to  a  level  with  the  water ;  and  the  small  space 
above  the  water-line  can  be  so  heavily  armored  as  to  be  im- 
penetrable, without  destroying  the  buoyancy  of  the  ship.  In 
action,  then,  the  Monitor  ship  presents  a  very  small  mark  to 
an  enemy's  guns — only  her  turret,  nine  feet  high,  and  some 
twenty  or  twenty-two  feet  in  diameter,  and  a  very  narrow 
line  of  her  side,  just  at  the  water's  edge.  These  ships,  in 
addition  to  the  battle  with  the  Merrimac,  have  been  exposed, 
at  short  range,  to  the  heaviest  artillery  and  steel-shot  at 
Charleston,  and  no  shot  has  yet  penetrated  either  a  turret  or 
a  side.  That  they  should  be  injured  by  a  fire  which  would 
have  sunk  any  other  snip  afloat,  was  a  matter  of  course  ;  but 
no  gun,  rifled  or  smooth-bore,  which  the  rebels  yet  have  tried, 
with  all  the  skill  of  England  at  their  disposal,  has  sent  a  shot 
through  a  turret  or  the  side  of  a  Monitor. 

Plates  have  been  cracked  and  bent,  but,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  two  or  three  casualties  from  bolt-heads,  (now  guarded 
against,)  the  Monitors  have  protected  their  crews  from  shot 
under  a  fire  which  no  other  vessels  were  ever  exposed  to,  and 
which  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  .  any  other  ships  afloat 
could  endure. 

In  the  creation  of  a  new  navy,  the  Government  has  con- 
structed— or  is  building,  at  least — four  classes  of  Monitors, 
3 


34 

besides  other  forms  of  iron-clad  vessels,  both  for  ocean  service 
and  for  our  rivers.  A  brief  description  of  one  of  each  kind 
will  enable  the  reader  to  judge  of  the  present  efficiency  and 
probable  future  of  the  American  iron-clads  ;  and  this,  with 
an  account  of  our  new  wooden. ships,  will  show  what  claim 
we  have  to  he  considered  a  first-class  naval  power,  and 
whether  we  shall  he  able  hereafter  to  defend  our  commerce 
abroad  and  our  cities  at  home. 

The  small  Monitor  which  encountered  and  heat  the  Mer- 
rimac,  the  pioneer  ship  of  her  class,  was  truly  an  ext\  mpqre 
vessel,  hurriedly  built,  to  meet  the  emergency  which  the 
rebels  were  preparing  for  the  country  at  Norfolk  ;  and  the 
great  value  of  the  principles  upon  which  she  was  constructed 
is  shown  in  the  victory  which  was  won  over  so  formidable  an 
adversary. 

The  following  facts  in  regard  to  the  Monitors  are  derived 
from  an  article  in  the  Scientific  American,  one  of  the  best 
authorities  upon  such  subjects  in  this  or  any  other  country. 
The  dimensions  of  the  original  Monitor  were  as  follows  : 


o' 


Extreme  length  on  deck,  over  the  armor,    .         .         173  feet. 

Extreme  beam  on  deck,  over  the  armor,  .  .       41  feet  6  inches. 

Depth, 12  feet. 

Length  of  iron  huil,        ......     127  feet. 

Width  of  iron  hull, 30  feet  2  inches. 

Projection  of  armor-shelf  forward,  .        .  .       14  feet. 

Projection  of  armor-shelf  aft,      .        .        .   m  .  32  feet. 

The  thickness  of  the  side-armor  was  five  inches  above 
the  water-line,  diminishing  first  to  four  inches,  and  finally  to 
three  inches  below  the  water.  The  whole  armor  above  the 
water  was  two  feet  three  inches  of  wood,  and  five  inches  ol 
iron.  The  turret  was  made  of  eight  thicknesses  of  one-inch 
iron  plates.  Its  inside  diameter  was  twenty  feet,  and  its 
height  nine  feet.  Her  armament  was  two  eleven-inch  guns, 
laid  side  by  side,  and  they  revolved  with  the  turret.  Such 
was  th«  diminutive  affair  which  conquered  a  first-class  iron- 
dad  broadside  frigate.  Her  success  was  due  to  three  things; 
the  invulnerable  turret  which  shielded  her  guns  and  crew,  the 


35 

great  weight  of  her  shot,  and  the  extremely  small  surface — 
little  more  than  her  turret — exposed  to  the  enemy's  shot. 
Her  defects  were  many,  but  they  did  not  affect  the  main 
principles  of  her  construction.  She  was  slow,  hut  there  is  no 
good  reason  why  a  vessel  built  on  the  Monitor  principle 
should  not  he  a  swift  one,  and  the  Puritan  and  Dictator  are 
expected  to  he  very  fast. 

Notwithstanding  her  faults,  she  had  settled  the  value  of 
the  principles  of  her  construction,  and  the  Government  at 
once  determined  to  build  nine  more  according  to  the  general 
plan,  with  such  changes  as  experience  had  suggested.  The 
nine  vessels  of  this  new  Monitor  fleet  were  modelled  alike,  and 
their  dimensions  are  as  follows  : 


Length  on  deck, 

200  feet. 

Width  on  deck,               .... 

45  feet. 

Depth  on  deck,           .... 

12  feet. 

Length  of  hull  proper, 

.     159  feet. 

Width  of  hull  proper,          . 

8*7  feet  8  inches 

Overhang  of  armor-shelf  forward, 

16  feet. 

Overhang  of  armor-shelf  aft, 

25  feet. 

Tonnage         ..... 

.     844  tons. 

Draught  of  water, 

10  feet. 

The  side-armor  is  composed  of  five  one-inch  plates.  The 
thickness  of  the  armor  and  its  wood  hacking  is  three  feet 
eight  inches.  The  deck  is  plated  with  two  thicknesses  of 
half-inch  iron.  The  turret  is  eleven  inches  thick,  made  of 
eleven  plates  one  inch  thick.  It  is  nine  feet  high,  and  the 
inside  diameter  is  twenty  feet.  The  armament  was  origin- 
ally intended  to  be  two  fifteen-inch  guns.  But  this  now 
varies  :  some  carry  one  fifteen-inch  gun  and  one  eleven-inch 
gun,  and  others  one  fifteen-inch  smooth-bore,  and  one  Par- 
rot rifle,  a  150  or  200-pounder.  These  are  the  ships  which 
were  engaged  at  Charleston. 

Still  another  fleet  of  nine  are,  at  this  time,  nearly  all  ready 
for  use.  They  vary  little  from  those  last  described,  except 
that  they  are  about  one-fourth  larger,  being  about  225  feet 
long,  and  of  about  1,000  tons'  burden.     The  projection  of  the 


36 

armor-shelf  is  less,  and  the  vessels  have  greater  speed,  and 
have  proved  to  be  good  and  safe  sea-boats. 

Admiral  Porter's  report  of  the  admirable  qualities  of  the 
Monitors  exhibited  during  the  severe  gale  off  Wilmington, 
has  set  at  rest  all  doubt  as  to  the  seaworthiness  of  this  class 
of  vessels. 

In  addition  to  these,  some  twenty  Monitors  of  less  draught 
are  under  way,  which,  in  other  respects,  are  similar  to  the 
last  described,  being  225  feet  long,  and  25  feet  wide.  They 
are  intended  to  be  fast  boats. 

Besides  these,  there  is  another  class  of  Monitor  ships,  now 
nearly  finished,  differing,  in  some  particulars,  from  those  al- 
ready mentioned.  They  are  much  larger,  some  of  them  being 
nearly  1,600  tons'  burden.  Their  side-armor  is  ten  inches 
thick,  and  the  thickness  of  the  turrets  is  fifteen  inches.  Some 
of  these  have  two  turrets. 

In  the  frigate  Roanoke  there  is  a  combination  of  the  tur- 
reted  and  the  broadside  ship.  She  is  of  the  same  class  as  the 
Mcrrimac.  Her  upper  works  were  taken  off,  her  sides  plated 
all  round  with  iron  four  and  five-eighths  inches  thick  in  the 
central  portion  of  the  ship,  and  somewhat  thinner,  as  is 
stated,  at  the  bow  and  stern.  Upon  her  deck  are  placed 
three  revolving  turrets,  of  the  Ericsson  form  ;  and  in  these 
she  carries  six  guns — two  fifteen-inch,  two  eleven-inch,  and 
two  150-pounder  rifles.  The  weight  of  her  broadside,  as  at 
present  armed,  is  about  1,500  pounds.  But  she  can  carry 
six  fifteen-inch  guns  if  necessary,  and  then  the  weight  of  her 
broadside  would  be  about  2,500  pounds.  She  is  said  to  be 
a  slow  ship,  and  it  seems  not  probable  that  her  peculiar  form 
will  be  adopted  in  the  construction  of  new  vessels,  although 
she  has  never  been  tried  in  action. 

The  Dictator  and  the  Puritan  represent  still  another  class 
<-f  Monitors,  which  arc  intended  to  be  swift  sea-going  ships  ; 
and,  if  successful — of  which  no  doubt  is  entertained,  except 
in  regard  to  their  speed — they  will  be  the  most  formidable 
ships  of  our  navy,  and  absolutely  invulnerable  to  any  artillery 
yet  in  service  in  Europe.     These  two  ships  arc  so  nearly  alike, 


37 

in  general  form  and  construction,  that  a  description  of  the 
Dictator,  principally  copied  from  the  New  York  Tribune,  will 
answer  for  the  Puritan,  except  that  the  Puritan  is  twenty- 
one  feet  longer  than  the  Dictator,  and  will  have  two  turrets. 
In  other  respects,  the  ships  are,  in  general,  alike. 

It  having  been  frequently  stated  that  the  Dictator  is  an 
ocean  iron-clad,  the  impression  prevails  that  she  resembles 
the  New  Ironsides  and  other  vessels  built  for  the  purpose  of 
sroing  to  sea.  This  is  not  so.  The  Dictator  has  none  of  the 
paraphernalia  of  such  ocean-vessels  as  we  are  in  the  habit  of 
looking  at  in  our  harbors.  She  has  none  of  the  tall  bulwarks, 
no  masts,  no  rigging,  no  capstan  on  deck — nothing,  in  fact, 
that  looks  like  an  ordinary  ship.  A  long-armed  man  could 
dip  his  hands  into  the  water  from  her  deck. 

The  dimensions  of  the  hull  of  the  vessel  are  as  follows  : 
Extreme  length  over  all,  314  feet.  The  aft  overhang  being 
thirty-one  feet,  and  forward  overhang  thirteen,  it  leaves  270 
feet  between  perpendiculars, — extreme  breadth  fifty,  and 
depth  twenty-two  and  a  half  feet.  Like  the  original  Moni- 
tor, and  the  Monitors  that  are  now  in  course  of  construc- 
tion, the  Dictator  is  almost  exclusively  iron — her  frames, 
kelsons,  and  plating,  being  of  that  metal.  A  person  looking 
at  her  in  the  river  can  form  no  idea  of  her  appearance  when 
she  is  completely  out  of  the  water.  If  an  ordinary  ship  were 
lifted  up,  and  an  immense  shelf  of  eleven  feet  of  iron  placed 
on  the  top  of  her  deck,  overhanging  for  a  space  of  some  four 
feet  on  each  side,  she  would  resemble  the  Dictator.  Taking 
into  account  the  curvature  of  the  sea,  the  Dictator  could  not 
be  seen  four  miles  off. 

The  armor  of  the  original  Monitor  consisted  of  five  inches 
of  iron,  laid  on  in  single  plates,  each  one  inch  thick.  That 
of  the  Warrior  consisted  of  four  and  a  half  inches  of  iron,  laid 
on  in  a  solid  slab  like  our  own  iron-clad  frigate  Roanoke. 
The  French  frigate  La  Gloire  had  also  four  and  a  half  inches 
of  iron  laid  on  in  a  solid  slab.  Now,  the  Dictator  has  on  her 
sides  eleven  inches  of  iron,  and  five  inches  of  this  is  in  solid 
beams,  somewhat  like  the  Warrior,  the  La  Gloire,  and  the 


38 

Roanoke,  except  that  the  plates  of  the  latter  were  in  very 
large  Blabs,  while  those  of  the  Dictator  arc  in  beams  five  by 
eight  inches.  Over  these  five-inch  blocks  of  iron  are  six  one- 
inch  plates  of  iron  ;  making  altogether  an  armor  of  eleven 
inches  of  iron,  the  same  dimensions  as  the  armor  of  a 
turret  of  the  Passaic,  Montauk,  etc.  The  armor  begins  at 
the  deck  and  goes  down  six  feet,  which  takes  it  about  four 
feet  below  the  water  ;  so  that  the  deck  of  the  ocean  iron-clad 
Dictator  will  only  be  about  two  feet  over  water.  Below  this 
armor  there  are  sixteen  feet  of  the  ship,  composed  of  plating 
13-16  of  an  inch  thick.  The  weight  of  the  armor  is  about 
live  hundred  tons — the  burden  of  a  pretty  large  sized  steamer. 

There  will  be  but  one  turret,  of  an  improved  pattern.  It 
was  originally  intended  to  cover  it  with  twenty-four  inches  of 
iron,  but  the  perfection  to  which  its  construction  has  now 
been  brought  will  render  fifteen  inghes  sufficient.  This  is 
four  inches  more  than  the  armor  of  the  Passaic  class  of  turret, 
and  ten  inches  more  than  the  armored  sides  of  those  vessels. 
The  apparatus  forWorMng  the  guns  will  be  more  perfect  than 
any  yet  carried  out.  The  revolution  in  naval  artillery,  caused 
by  the  facility  with  which  four  or  five  men  can  work  the  fif- 
teen-inch gun,  will  be  made  still  more  startling  when  one  or 
two  men  can  handle  such  immense  pieces  of  ordnance.  The 
-car  of  the  turret  is  different  from  that  of  the  other  vessels 
only  in  point  of  size.  The  turret  complete  will  weigh  almost 
live  hundred  tons,  or  thereabouts,  being  as  heavy,  almost,  as 
the  entire  armor  of  the  vessel . 

The  ram  is  almost  the  finest  piece  of  work  aboard  the  ship. 
The  ram  proper  is  twenty-two  feet  of  solid  oak  and  iron; 
unlike  the  Keokuk,  which  protruded  from  the  bottom  of  the 
hull  near  the  keel,  this  extends  from  the  top  of  the  deck, 
'icing,  ;is  it  were,  an  extension  of  the  entire  armor  of  the  ship. 
Another  advantage  in  this  ram  is,  that  it  could  be  carried 
away  without  any  material  damage  or  injury  to  the  vessel, 
and  without  her  making  water. 

The  decks  are  perfectly  clear  of  all  incumbrances  except 
the  turret.     The  same  objection  made  to  the  other  Monitors, 


39 

relative  to  their  liability  to  be  injured  by  plunging  shot  from 
forts,  is  valid  in  the  Dictator's  case  ;  but  it  is  only  just  to 
say,  that,  of  the  iron-clad  vessels  engaged  in  the  attack  on 
Charleston,  none  has  suffered  any  serious  inconvenience  from 
injuries  done  to  the  deck.  It  seems  almost  impossible,  and 
has  proved  so,  that  a  projectile-  fired  from  a  ship  could  enter 
the  deck.  The  armor  of  the  deck  consists  of  one  and  a  half 
inches  of  iron,  laid  on  in  two  plates,  in  the  same  manner  as 
in  the  other  vessels. 

The  berth-deck — that  on  which  the  crew  and  officers  are  to 
live — is  a  very  commodious  one,  the  head-room  being  equal 
to  that  of  any  first-class  sailing  frigate  in  the  navy.  A  man 
six  feet  high,  with  his  hat  on,  can  walk,  without  stooping, 
from  end  to  end  of  it. 

The  ship  is  ventilated  by  three  immense  blowers  ;  two  for 
the  use  of  the  vessel  generally,  and  one  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  ventilating  the  engine-room.  These  blowers  are  of 
immense  size,  about  seventy-two  inches  by  forty-eight  inches. 
An  air-trunk,  supplying  a  blower  eight  feet  in  diameter,  is 
placed  thirty-five  feet  from  the  stern.  The  air  to  supply  the 
other  blowers  is  drawn  from  the  top  of  the  turret  and  distrib- 
uted through  the  ship. 

The  machinery  of  the  Dictator  is  of  greater  power  than 
that  of  any  man-of-war  built  in  this  country  or  in  Europe. 
The  cylinders  are  one  hundred  inches  in  diameter.  Cylinders 
of  these  dimensions  have  never  been  built  in  this  city,  except 
for  side-wheel  steamboats.  The  cylinders  are  bolted  to 
massive  wrought-iron  kelsons,  ten  feet  deep,  and  some  twenty- 
four  inches  in  width.  They  are  both  in  line,  athwart  ships, 
and  have  large  slide  and  expansive  valves,  the  latter  working 
over  the  former.  A  peculiar  feature  of  the  machinery  is  the 
absence  of  guides,  cross-heads,  and  other  cumbrous  parts. 
The  piston,  four  feet  stroke,  has  a  trunk  attached  to  it.  The 
boilers  are  immense,  six  in  number,  and  have  fifty-six  fur- 
naces, and  an  aggregate  grate-surface  of  1,100  feet  ;  allowing 
twelve  pounds  of  coal  per  square  foot  of  grate-surface,  the 
vessel  will  require  at  least  one  hundred  and  forty  tons  of  coal 


40 

per  day  of  twenty-four  hours' steaming  at  full  speed,  which 
will  never  he  requisite  excepting  when  chasing  an  enemy. 
The  weight  of  these  boilers  will  he  almost  seventy  tons  each, 
that  is,  four  hundred  and  twenty  tons  altogether,  without 
water  ;  so  that  when  they  are  completed  they  will  weigh  over 
seven  hundred  tons.  The  propeller  shaft  is  a  gigantic  piece 
of  forge-work  ;  it  weighs  something  like  thirty-six;  tons,  the 
burden  of  an  average  sloop.  The  propeller  is  a  right-handed 
true-screw,  twenty-one  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter  ;  has 
thirty-four  feet  pitch,  and  weighs  39,000  pounds.  There  is 
no  outboard  bearing  for  the  shaft.  What  piston-speed  will 
be  obtained  from  the  ergines  remains  to  be  seen.  The  pro- 
peller cannot  be  injured  by  any  projectile,  as  a  shot  would 
have  to  pass  through  twenty-six  feet  of  water  to  strike  it. 
The  engines  are  calculated  to  be  something  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  5,000-horse-power. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  way  of  making 
the  iron-clads  permanently  useful  was  that  of  protecting  the 
bottoms  from  the  filth  which  concentrated  there  and  pre- 
vented them  from  moving.  The  original  Monitor  had  to  be 
towed  from  Fortress  Monroe  to  Washington,  on  account  of 
her  bottoms  being  so  foul.  The  English  frigate  Warrior 
also  experienced  a  similar  inconvenience.  All  sorts  of  paints 
have  been  tried,  and  all  with  want  of  success.  The  most 
popular  was  a  sort  of  English  "peacock''  paint,  which  was 
used  in  some  of  the  mail-steamers  ;  but  it  did  very  little 
good.  On  the  bottom  of  the  Dictator,  however,  and  on 
all  of  our  iron-clads  to  be  built  henceforward,  and  most 
of  the  naval-built  vessels,  a  successful  remedy  has  been 
devised,  which  will  keep  the  bottoms  perfectly  clear  of  all 
tilth.  It  is  called  "  ship-zinc  "  paint,  and  is  perfectly  white 
in  color.  Some  thirty  years  since  a  vessel  was  coated  with  it 
in  England  ;  she  arrived  here  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  her  bot- 
toms were  found  in  perfect  order.  The  government  has 
responsible  parties  furnishing  the  paint,  and  its  purity  can  be 
relied  on.  It  is  confidently  expected  that  a  vessel  so  com- 
plete, witli  eleven  inches  of  armor  and  such  a  heavy  battery 
will  prove  herself  the  Dictator  of  the  ocean. 


41 

"  Capt.  Tyler,  of  the  Royal  Engineers,  in  a  lecture  before 
the  United  Service  Institution,  Jan.  18th,  delighted  his  hearers 
by  assuring  them  that  'the  turrets  of  the  monitors  and  their 
port-stoppers  were  effective  principally  in  preventing  the 
guns  from  being  worked.'  He  further  stated  that  the  report 
of  Secretary  Welles  '  confirmed  the  worst  estimate  that  we 
(the  English)  had  formed  of  them/  The  unprejudiced  lec- 
turer further  told  his  hearers  that  the  only  Federal  vessel 
that  had  ventured  within  700  yards  of  Fort  Sumter,  the  Keo- 
kuk, had  to  be  withdrawn  in  a  sinking  condition,  and  after- 
ward sunk.  '  The  eleven-inch  guns  proved  too  much  for  the 
eleven-inch  turrets  of  the  monitors,'  added  the  lecturer,  leav- 
ing his  hearers  to  infer  that  the  Keokuk  was  a  monitor  whose 
turret  and  hull  had  been  riddled  by  Confederate  balls.  Our 
readers  will  bear  in  mind  that  this  statement  was  made  on 
the  18th  of  January,  1864,  on  an  occasion  of  more  than 
ordinary  gravity,  the  subject  under  consideration  being  the 
great  national  question  of  harbor  defence  and  the  fortifica- 
tions at  Spithead.  Captain  Tyler  produced  charts  showing 
that  there  were  three  distinct  channels,  varying  from  1,000 
to  3,000  yards  in  width,  open  to  an  enemy's  vessels,  and 
which  channels  he  said  could  not  be  obstructed,  yet,  as  the 
Keokuk  had  been  sunk  at  a  distance  of  700  yards,  these 
channels  could  not  be  entered  by  our  iron-clads. 

,. "  We  will  not  attempt  to  dispel  Captain  Tyler's  delusion, 
nor  question  the  soundness  of  his  argument  in  proof  of  Eng- 
land's security.  Our  object  is  simply  to  point  out  that  he 
has  grossly  misrepresented  our  naval  achievements.  The 
fact  is,  the  Eoyal  Engineers  have  been  forced  to  admit  the 
impregnability  of  our  turrets  and  port-stoppers — hence  their 
annoyance.  The  brevity  of  the  action  with  the  Confederate 
iron-clad  Atlanta  has  shown  that  the  'cheese-box  on  a  raft' 
is  something  more  than  a  mere  Yankee  notion.  The  English 
artillerists  are  surprised  to  find  that  while  they  require  twenty 
men  to  handle  a  ten-inch  gun  on  land,  our  enormous  pieces 
of  fifteen-inch  calibre  are  handled  on  board  of  the  monitors 
with  half  a  dozen  hands — a  single  man  only  being  required  to 


42 

point  these  guns.  But  more  surprising  still,  the  turrets  and 
the  port-stoppers  oiler  absolute  protection  to  guns,  and  gun- 
ners. 

"  The  lecturer  of  the  18th  of  January  knew  that  the  moni- 
tors had  been  repeatedly  engaged  with  the  Confederate  bat- 
teries at  short  ranges,  since  the  first  conflict  at  Charleston, 
and  he  well  knew,  at  the  time  when  he  addressed  his  audience, 
that  upwards  of  2,000  shot  had  hit  the  monitor  fleet.  The 
Patapsco,  it  was  well  known  at  the  time,  had  been  in  twenty- 
eight  engagements,  yet  nothing  had  been  destroyed  within 
her  turret,  and  not  the  slightest  derangement  caused  to  her 
machinery.  These  stubborn  facts  Captain  Tyler  cannot 
grapple  with,  and  therefore  tells  his  hearers  what  happened 
during  the  first  brief  trial  of  the  new  system,  under  fire  at 
Charleston  in  April,  186 .'5  A  port-stopper  which  had  been 
placed  too  near  the  turret  in  one  of  the  vessels,  stuck.  The 
application  of  hammer  and  chisel  fir  half  an  hour  removed 
the  difficulty.  Not  a  single  accident  of  the  kind  has  occur- 
red during  the  whole  siege,  not  a  pound  of  Confederate  metal 
has  entered  through  plates  or  port-stoppers  ;  and  yet  an  officer 
in  Her  Majesty's  service,  before  an  audience  composed  of  dis- 
tinguished persons,  ventures  to  state  that  'the  turrets  of  the 
monitors,  and  their  port-stoppers,  were  effective  principally 
in  preventing  the  guns  from  being  worked,'  and  that  the 
Confederate  guns  '  proved  too  much  for  the  eleven-inch  plates 
which  composed  the  turrets  of  the  monitors.' 

"  We  forbear  comment,  but  advise  the  English  people  not 
to  be  lulled  into  security  by  assurances  based  on  professional 
conceit  and  ignorance.  Their  neighbors  over  the  Channel 
have  fully  proved  that  iron-clads,  of  the  European  type,  are 
unfit  to  fight  at  sea,  and  that  notwithstanding  M.  Xavier 
Raymond's  splendid  account  of  their  success,  written  toordcr 
for  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  just  published,  something  better 
must  be  contrived.  Accordingly,  the  Emperorof  the  French, 
through  his  agents,  is  taking  a  very1  careful  look  into  our  tur- 
rets. England  will  do  well  to  do  the  same  ;  for  with  a  single 
opponent  at  Cherbourg,  such  as  our  large  turret  vessels,  with 


43 

their  fifteen-inch  thick  iron  protection  to  their  enormous  guns, 
and  ten  and  a  half  inch  side-armor,  hacked  by  four  feet  of  oak, 
the  Warriors,  Black  Princes  and  Prince  Consorts  could  not 
hold  the  channel  for  a  single  day.  The  experiments  at  the 
Washington  Navy  Yard  established  the  fact  long  ago,  that 
the  four  and  a  half  inch  plating  of  the  European  iron-clads 
with  its  thin  wood  backing,  affords  no  protection  against  the 
enormous  weight  of  ordnance  which  is  part  of  the  monitor 
system.  The  result  of  the  recent  trials  of  armor-plate  insti- 
tuted by  the  Navy  Department,  which  we  alluded  to  a  few 
days  ago,  will  amaze  our  Trans- Atlantic  rivals.  The  news  of 
the  fate  of  the  famous  six-inch  solid  armor-plates,  considered 
by  the  French  as  impregnable,  will  be  most  unwelcome.  The 
utter  demolition  of  Messrs.  Petin  and  Gaudit's  six-inch  plate 
at  the  first  shot  from  a  fifteen-inch  gun  at  Washington  Navy 
Yard,  on  the  10th  of  February,  1864,  will  form  an  epoch  in 
the  history  of  iron-clads.  The  small-bore  and  high-velocity 
theory  has  received  its  quietus  by  this  last  practical  mode 
adopted  by  the  Navy  Department  for  settling  the  question. 
Much  credit  is  due  to  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
for  his  persistent  course  in  adhering  to  the  large  smooth-bore 
principle,  the  successful  application  of  which  now  enables  us 
to  defy  all  European  iron-clads. 

"  It  would  appear  that  the  great  problem  is  nearer  to  so- 
lution than  has  been  supposed.  We  have  guns  that  can  tear 
to  fragments  six-inch  solid  armor-plates  at  a  single  shot,  and 
therefore  fully  adequate  to  crush  in  the  sides  of  any  European 
iron-clad.  We  operate  these  guns  within  impregnable  iron 
cylinders  15  inches  thick,  which  at  the  will  of  the  gunner 
turn  to  any  point  of  the  compass.  These  cylinders  again  we 
place  on  vessels,  which,  while  they  present  a  very  small  target 
to  the  enemy's  fire,  are  protected  by  ten-inch  side-armor, 
backed  by  timber  from  three  to  four  feet  in  thickness.  In 
regard  to  speed,  those  who  are  best  informed  expect  that  our 
large  turret  ships  will  be  very  fast.  We- abstain  from  all 
speculation  on  this  point,  since  the  Dictator  will  be  under 
steam  by  the  end  of  April.     It  will  be  proper  to  add  that  our 


44 

rivals  have  frequently  asserted  that  our  small  monitor  vessels 
would  he  useless  for  defensive  purposes,  notwithstanding  their 
heavy  and  well-protected  guns.  They  have  boasted  of  their 
superior  speed,  and  told  us  that  their  Warriors  would  run 
down  the  small  Monitors,  pass  our  forts  and  come  up  to  our 
wharves. 

"  It  has  just  occurred  to  them  that  their  armored  ships 
draw  25  feet  water,  while  the  monitors  only  draw  10.1 
feet,  and  that  the  gunner  in  a  monitor  turret,  safe  on  the 
shoals  along  the  main  channels,  can  unmolested  and  at  short 
range  put  his  fifteen-inch  shot  through  the  insufficient  armor 
of  the  intruder. 

"We  are  informed  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  intends 
to  send  the  Dictator  on  a  trial-trip  across  the  Atlantic  next 
summer.  We  advise  Capt.  Tyler  then  to  visit  the  American 
iron-clad,  to  learn  if  turrets  and  port-stoppers,  as  built  in  the 
United  States,  are  '  effective  principally  in  preventing  the 
guns  from  being  worked.'  " 

The  Dunderbcrg  is  another  monstrous  iron-clad,  much 
larger  than  either  the  Puritan  or  the  Dictator,  and  very 
different  in  form,  size,  and  general  construction  from  any 
previously  described.  This  is  being  built  at  the  ship-yard  of 
W.  H.  Webb,  New  York,  and  will  soon  be  ready  for  launch- 
ing. The  following  description  will  give  a  general  idea 
of  this  powerful  ship.  It  is  copied  from  the  Scientific 
Ameeican,  of  March  14,  18G3  : 

"  The  formidable  ram-frigate  Dunderbcrg,  now  building 
lor  the  Government  by  W.  H.  Webb,  at  his  yard  at  the  foot 
of  Sixth  street,  in  this  city,  is  in  a  very  forward  state,  and 
being  completed  as  fast  as  possible.  We  lately  visited  this 
vessel,  and  are  able  to  furnish  a  few  details  of  her  construc- 
tion, which  we  think  will  prove  acceptable  to  our  readers. 

"  The  hull  of  the  Dunderberg  is  massive,  being  solid  from 
stem  to  stern.  It  is  378  feet  long,  6'8  feet  wide,  and  32  feet 
deep.  The  frames  are  twelve  inches  thick,  and  are  built  of 
oak,  firmlv  bolted  and  fastened  together. 


45 

"  The  model  of  the  ship  is  very  peculiar.  The  floor  is  dead 
flat  for  the  whole  length,  and  the  sides  rise  from  it  at  an  angle 
everywhere  save  forward,  where  they  are  very  near  vertical. 
The  bow  is  as  sharp  and  has  as  fine  lines  as  it  is  possible  to 
give  it ;  and  the  stern  and  run  aft  are  very  clean  and  hand- 
somely modelled.  The  hull  is  divided  by  several  water-tight 
compartments,  both  longitudinally  and  transversely — a  pre- 
caution common  to  nearly  all  modern  sea-going  ships,  which 
has  been  found  indispensable.  The  frames  are  strapped 
diagonally  with  heavy  irons,  five  inches  wide  by  seven-eighths 
of  an  inch  thick,  blunt  bolted  to  them.  There  is  a  slight 
sheer  on  deck,  but  it  is  almost  invisible  to  the  casual  observer 
at  a  short  distance.  There  is  but  one  rudder  :  provision  is 
made,  however,  for  steering  by  an  auxiliary  apparatus  of  a 
peculiar  nature,  should  the  main  steering-gear  be  shot  away. 
The  frame-timbers,  twelve  inches  thick,  are  ceiled  inside  five 
inches  thick,  planked  outside  five  inches  thick,  and  over  the 
planking  two  courses  of  heavy  oak  beams,  twelve  inches 
thick,  are  again  laid,  making  in  all  an  aggregate  amount  of 
nearly  five  feet  of  solid  timber  on  the  ram's  sides.  The 
planking  is  all  caulked,  and  the  seams  payed,  before  the  last 
protection  is  applied,  and  the  entire  mass  is  as  firmly  bolted 
together  as  it  is  possible  to  do  it. 

"  The  ram  on  the  Dunderberg  is  about  as  formidable  a 
looking  object  as  one  can  conceive.  The  entire  fore-foot  of 
the  vessel  is  prolonged  thirty  feet  from  the  hull  proper,  and, 
rising  easily  upward  from  the  keel  about  half  the  distance 
from  the  water-line,  is  there  rounded,  presenting  a  blunt  end 
in  shape  like  the  profile  of  an  axe-edge  ;  it  then  runs  back 
toward  the  stem  again.  The  mass  of  wood  which  forms  this 
ram  projects  inside  the  hull  almost  as  far  as  it  does  outboard, 
and  is  there  substantially  secured  to  the  main  timbers.  The 
sides  and  edge  of  the  ram  will  be  iron-plated  ;  and  even 
should  the  whole  of  it  be  knocked  off  in  an  affray,  the  build- 
ers say  that  the  hull  will  be  water-tight. 

"The  Dunderberg  has,  on  top  of  the  main-deck,  case- 
mated  quarters  for  the  guns  and  crew.     This  casemate  slopes 


4G 

at  an  acute  angle  from  tin*  sides  to  the  top.  It  takes  up  a 
large  portion  of  the  vessel  amid-ships,  and  is  an  elongated 
tagon  in  shape.  It  is  made  of  heavy  timber,  plated  with 
iron  four  and  a  half  inches  thick.  It  is  pierced  on  each  side 
for  three  broadside  guns,  and  has  one  port  forward  and  an- 
other ait.  in  the  casemate,  for  bow  and  stern  tiring.  The 
hull  of  the  ship  is  built  out  from  a  distance  below  the  water- 
line  to  meet  the  edge  of  the  casemate  above,  bo  that  the 
broadside  of  the  Dunderberg  will  present  an  acute  angle  to 
the  line  of  the  enemy's  fire.  We  do  not  know  what  the  in- 
clination of  the  casemate  and  side  is,  but  it  cannot  be  less 
than  45°.  The  mass  of  wood  and  iron  presenting  a  resistance 
to  the  enemy's  rams  or  projectiles  at  this  point  amounts  in 
all  to  seven  feet.  There  are  to  be  two  turrets  on  the  top  of 
this  casemate.  The  thickness  of  the  turret-walls  will  be 
much  greater  than  those  of  the  Monitor  batteries,  and  strong 
enough  to  resist  the  heaviest  ordnance. 

"  The  armament  of  the  Dunderberg  has  been  variously 
guessed  at  by  parties.  As  it  is  not  publicly  known  what  it 
will  be,  we  are  not  able  to  inform  our  readers,  further  than 
that  rumor  assigns  the  twenty-inch  guns  to  the  broadside, 
while  each  turret  will  also  contain  two  heavy  guns.  The 
deck  of  the  casemate,  and  also  the  main-deck,  will  be 
plated  bomb-proof  j  and  the  quarters  for  the  oilicers  and 
crew,  being  in  the  fortress  on  deck,  will  be  thoroughly  venti- 
lated and  open  to  the  light  and  air  :  there  will  then  be  none 
of  that  depressing  influence  which  is  so  marked  in  the  depart- 
ments assigned  to  the  crews  on  the  other  batteries. 

"  One  great  and  overwhelming  advantage  that  this  splen- 
did vessel  has,  is  that  Bhe  is  built  of  wood.  She  may  leak, 
become  water-logged,  roll,  pitch,  and  toss,  but  there  will  still 
be  some  hope  for  the  crew  as  long  as  they  stick  to  her.  Iron 
batteries  till  and  plunge  out  of  sight  with  very  little  warning. 
The  effect  of  this  fact  upon  sailors  morally  is  not  the  least 
important  one.  Although  no  men  could  have  behaved  bet- 
ter than  the  crew  of  the  Monitor  did  in  their  peril,  yet  they 
all  felt  that  their  case  was  hopeless  ;  and  if  they  were  saved, 


47 

it  would  be  more  the  result  of  good  fortune  than  any  aid 
which  their  ship  could  afford  them.  The  Dundcrberg  will 
draw  about  twenty  feet  of  water.  Her  speed  is  not  stated. 
Her  engines  are  estimated  at  6,000-horse-power.  We  are 
not  able  at  present  to  give  particulars  of  them/' 

This  is  one  of  the  largest  war-ships  in  the  world,  and 
quite  different  from  all  others  yet  devised. 

If  to  these  descriptions  is  added  an  account  of  some  of 
the  iron-clads  intended  for  the  rivers,  the  reader  will  have 
the  means  of  forming  a  correct  opinion  of  the  mailed  navy 
of  the  United  States  in  its  present  condition.  The  gunboats 
Lafayette  and  Tnscumbia  have  been  selected  as  types  of  our 
most  powerful  river  iron-clads. 

The  Lafayette  is  804  feet  long,  fifty  feet  beam,  and  draws 
eight  and  a  half  feet  of  water.  Her  plating  is  two  and  a 
half  inches  thick,  backed  by  two  inches  of  India  rubber  and 
twelve  inches  of  solid  oak.  Her  armament  consists  of  two 
200-pounder  Parrott  guns,  two  100-pounder  Parrott  guns, 
and  four  nine-inch  Dahlgrens. 

The  description  of  the  Tnscumbia  is  taken  from  the 
Scientific  American  : 

"The  Tuscumbia  is  one  among  the  largest  vessels  in  the 
"Western  fleet.  In  strength  of  timbers,  imperviousness  of 
her  coat  of  iron  mail,  stanclmess  of  build,  and  completeness 
of  outfit,  she  will  rank  among  the  very  best  of  the  iron- 
clads  yet  built.  Her  length  is  182  feet,  breadth  of  beam 
TO  feet,  depth  of  hold  8  feet.  She  will  draw  five  and  a 
half  feet  of  water,  with  all  her  armament,  stores,  coal,  etc., 
aboard. 

"  Her  machinery  is  of  superior  finish  and  extraordinary 
strength,  and  is  all  below  the  iron-clad  deck,  and  is  con- 
structed upon  an  entirely  new  plan,  lately  approved  and 
adopted  -by  the  Kavy.  She  has  two  cylinders,  thirty  incnes 
in  diameter,  six  feet  stroke,  working  two  powerful  side- 
wheels  twenty -five  feet  in  diameter,  twelve  feet  bucket.  She 
is   also  supplied  with   two  other  cylinders,  twenty  inches' 


48 

stroke,  working  two  screw  propellers  six  feet  six  indies  in 
diameter.  She  is  furnished  with  iwo  small  engines  for  work- 
ing the  capstan,  one  forward  and  the  other  aft.  She  has  six 
twenty-eight  feet  boilers  forty  inches  in  diameter,  with  five 
lines  each,  with  an  auxiliary  pumping  engine  for  filling  the 
boilers.  By  her  pumps  the  vessel  could  be  flooded  in  a 
short  time. 

"The  Tnscnmbia  lias,  in  addition  to  her  armament,  an 
apparatus  for  throwing  hot  water,  capable  of  ejecting  a 
scalding  stream  to  a  distance  of  two  hundred  feet.  The 
armament  consists  of  three  eleven-inch  Dahlgren  guns,  in 
battery,  forward,  and  two  100-pounder  rifled  guns,  in  bat- 
tery, aft.  The  iron  plating  on  the  batteries  or  gun-rooms  is 
six  inches  in  thickness  forward,  and  four  inches  thick  aft. 
The  sides  of  the  vessel  are  plated  with  three-inch  wrought 
iron  ;  the  deck  with  one-inch  wrought  iron. 

"The  cost  of  the  Tnscnmbia  will  be  about  #250,000. 
Her  magazines  are  provided  with  an  apparatus  by  which 
they  can  be  completely  flooded  in  the  short  space  of  one 
minute.  A  bulwark  of  iron,  loop-holed,  for  musketry,  is 
placed  around  her  guards.  Her  speed  will  be  about  twelve 
miles  an  hour  against  the  current.  She  will  he  manned  by 
150  marines.     Her  custom-house  measurement  is  980  tons.'1 

It  must  not,  however,  be  thought  that  these  two  boats 
represent  nearly  all  the  Western  iron-clads.  They  are  of 
many  different  forms,  and  vary  greatly  in  their  armament 
and  general  efficiency.  Many  of  them  are  expensive  and 
powerful  vessels.  Some  of  those  lately  constructed  have 
turrets;  and  the  form  of  these  has  been  varied,  in  order  to 
try  experiments  which  might  settle  important  questions  of 
construction.  Their  armament,  in  general,  is  xevy  heavy — 
nearly  all  of  them  carrying  one  or  more  guns  oPVgrcater 
calibre  than  can  be  found  on  the  largest  French  and  English 
frigates.  Eleven-inch  smooth-bores  and  200-pounder  rifles 
are  common  guns  on  board  the  larger  class  of  the  river  iron- 
clad gunboats.  They  have  been  used  successfully  against 
fortifications   armed    with    the    largest    cannon,    rifled    and 


49 

smooth-bore,  which  the  rebels  have,  and  have  proved  a  most 
efficient  arm  of  the  nation's  power. 

The  only  broadside  ocean-ships  which  the  Americans 
have  yet  plated  with  iron,  except  the  Roanoke,  which  has  an 
exposed  side  and  turrets  also,  are  the  small  corvette  Galena 
and  the  New  Ironsides  frigate.  It  is  stated  that  the  Galena 
was  mailed  with  plates  three  and  a  half  inches  thick.  She 
was  pierced  and  nearly  ruined  by  ten-inch  shot  in  the  fight 
at  Fort  Darling,  while  the  same  kind  of  shot  made  no  seri- 
ous impression  on  the  armor  of  the  Monitor. 

The  New  Ironsides  is  a  first-class  frigate,  whose  tonnage, 
according  to  the  register,  is  about  3,500  tons.  She  is,  there- 
fore, somewhat  larger  than  the  Minnesota,  and  about  1,000 
tons  less  in  burden  than  the  Niagara.  Her  armor-plates  are 
four  and  a  half  inches  thick  ;  and  her  armament  consists  of 
fourteen  eleven-inch  smooth-bores,  two  150-pounder  rifles, 
two  50-pounder  rifles,  and  two  howitzers. 

Her  broadside,  therefore,  is  very  nearly  the  same  with 
that  of  the  "Warrior  in  weight ;  but  her  principal  shot  weigh 
170  and  150  pounds,  while  those  of  the  English  frigate  weigh 
68  and  100  pounds — the  latter  used  in  Armstrong  guns. 

Such  guns  as  the  New  Ironsides  carries  defeated  the 
Merrimac,  though  the  Monitor  had  only  two  of  them  ;  while 
the  Ironsides  has  been  exposed  at  Charleston  to  far  more  for- 
midable guns  than  any  yet  used  on  an  English,  or,  indeed, 
on  any  European  ship,  and  has  received  in  all  those  battles 
no  serious  injury.  The  Charleston  correspondent  of  the 
London  Times  describes  her  broadside  as  the  most  terrible 
one  in  its  effects  ever  thrown  from  a  ship.  Except  in  speed, 
this  ship  has  fully  answered  the  expectation  of  the  country. 
She  was  constructed,  however,  with  a  more  anxious  care  to 
obtain  a  powerful  and  invulnerable  battery  than  to  give  her 
unusual  speed.  The  broadside  ship  and  the  Monitor  bat- 
teries are  designed  for  different  spheres  of  action  ;  and  while 
swiftness  is  desirable  in  both,  it  seems  more  important  for 
the  broadside  ship  that  is  intended  for  an  ocean  cruiser. 

It  must  be  remembered,  when  comparing  the  armament 
of  American  and  European  ships,  that  changes  are  continu- 
4 


50 

ally  going  on;  and  the  indications  are  that  England  is  dis- 
posed  to  follow  our  lead  in  the  adoption  of  heavy  guns;  and 
we  may  expect  to  see  some  of  her  new  ships  armed  with  the 
largest  guns  which  she  is  aide  to  fabricate.  It  is  announced, 
for  instance,  that  the  Royal  Sovereign,  a  tnrreted  Bhip3  is  to 
carry  300-pounder  guns.  As  yet,  England  has  uot  produced 
a  reliable  cannon  of  this  size,  much  less  has  she  mounted  one 
on  the  deck  of  a  ship.  But  if  Americans  teach  her  the  art, 
she  will  do  it.  hereafter.  Our  largest  wooden  frigates,  such 
as  the  Wabash,  the  .Minnesota,  and  the  Niagara,  are  ships  of 
only  medium  speed,  but  they  are  heavily  armed  with  the 
most  formidable  cannon  which  have  ever  been  used,  except 
those  on  board  the  Monitors.  As  an  example,  the  Niagara, 
which  has  been  undergoing  extensive  repairs,  in  the  hope  of 
increasing  her  speed,  lately  took  on  board,  as  her  armament, 
twenty-four  eleven-inch  smooth-bore  guns  and  twelve  200- 
pounder  Parrott  rifles,  with  which  the  weight  of  her  broad- 
side would  be  3,200  pounds — twice  that,  or  nearly  so,  of  the 
English  "Warrior.  This  armament,  however,  was  found  to 
sink  the  ship  too  low  in  the  water,  and  it  has  been  changed. 
The  case,  however,  indicates  the  direction  of  American  ex- 
periments. Our  new  corvettes,  such  as  the  Lackawanna  and 
the  Canaudaigua,  are  very  swift  ships,  and,  in  size,  arc 
nearly  equal  to  the  old  form  of  the  line-of-battle  ship,  while 
their  armament  is  far  more  formidable. 

This  general  survey  of  the  American  navy  may  be  com- 
pleted by  stating,  that  among  our  smaller  vessels  are  some  of 
the  swiftest  in  the  world. 


AMERICAN  ARTILLERY. 

It  will  be  seen,  from  the  foregoing  statements,  that  the 
comparative  efficiency  of  the  new  American  navy  depends 
upon  two  things:    the  American,  or  Ericsson  form  of  the 

tnrreted  ship,  and  the  power  of  our  new  artillery.  If  the 
Monitor  batteries  are  really  invulnerable,  vet,  if  they  are  not 
armed  with  guns  that  can  shatter  or  pierce  the  sides  of  an 


51 

enemy's  ship,  they  would  be  nearly  worthless  ;  while  the 
superiority  and  even  the  safety  of  our  ships  of  other  forms 
must  depend  upon  the  character  of  their  guns. 

Other  nations  as  well  as  our  own  are  earnestly  engaged 
in  costly  experiments  with  artillery.  What  they  may  here- 
after produce,  of  course,  none  now  can  know ;  but,  up  almost 
to  the  present  hour,  the  effort  of  the  artillerists  of  Europe 
has  been  to  obtain  the  highest  possible  velocity  for  the  shot, 
the  greatest  possible  power  of  penetration,  sacrificing  to  these 
ends  the  weight  of  the  projectile. 

The  American  theory,  on  the  contrary,  has  been  to  in- 
crease the  weight  of  the  shot,  at  the  expense  of  its  velocity 
if  necessary — to  use,  in  any  event,  for  breaching  walls  and 
smashing  armor-plates,  a  heavy  projectile,  and  then,  by 
rifling  or  otherwise  improving  the  gun,  to  increase  velocity 
and  range. 

Acting  upon  these  opposite  theories,  the  English  have 
mounted,  as  yet,  upon  their  ships  no  smooth-bore  cannon 
larger  than  the  eight-inch  68-pounder,  which  forms  the  prin- 
cipal broadside  guns  of  the  Warrior ;  while  the  Americans 
have  already  in  actual  service,  on  their  vessels,  nine-inch, 
ten-inch,  eleven-inch,  and  fifteen-inch  smooth-bore  guns, 
while  a- twenty-inch  gun  has  just  been  cast  at  Pittsburg,  said 
to  be  intended  for  the  Dunderberg ;  and  200-pounder  rifles 
are  found  on  even  our  gunboats,  and  300-pounder  Parrott 
rifles  are  in  our  batteries  at  Charleston. 

Before  stating  facts  in  regard  to  American  cannon  which 
might  seem  an  empty  boast,  it  may  be  well  to  present  some 
very  late  English  opinions  upon  our  new  artillery.  The  first 
extract  is  from  the  Pichinond  correspondent  of  the  London 
Times,  and,  of  course,  not  inclined  to  over-estimate  an  Ame- 
rican invention  : 

"  Again  I  feel  tempted  to  raise  a  warning  voice  about  the 
disparity  of  the  armament  on  board  of  the  English  and 
American  navies.  It  is  impossible  for  those  who  have  been 
many  months  absent  from  England  to  be  well  informed  as  to 
the  actual  state  of  public  opinion  at  the  present  moment 


52 

upon  this  vital  subject.  But,  judging  from  the  officers  of 
Her  Majesty's  navy  who  have,  at  rare  intervals,  brought 
vessels  of  war  into  Confederate  ports,  it  appears  still  to  he 
held  that  the  68-pounder  or  eight-inch  smooth-bore  is  Eng- 
land's best  weapon  of  offence  against  iron-clad  vessels.  The 
(  xperience  gained  at  Charleston  enables  me  confidently  to 
affirm,  that  as  well  might  you  pelt  one  of  the  Yankee  Moni- 
tors or  the  Ironsides  with  peas  as  expect  them  to  be  in  any 
way  damaged  by  eight-inch  shot. 

"  Anobher  disagreeable  question  forces  itself  upon  an 
Englishman's  attention  when  he  is  cognizant  of  the  terrific 
broadside  thrown  by  the  eight  eleven-inch  guns  of  the  Iron- 
sides— one  of  the  most  formidable  broadsides,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  defenders  of  Charleston,  which  has  ever  been  thrown 
by  any  vessel  upon  earth.  Have  we  any  ship  in  existence 
which  could  successfully  resist  such  a  broadside,  and  respond 
to  it  with  anything  like  commensurate  weight  and  vigor?  I 
should  be  faithless  to  my  duty  if  I  did  not  mention  that  it  is 
the  universal  opinion  of  all  the  English  officers  serving  in  the 
Confederate  army,  with  whom  I  conversed,  that  England  is 
behind  America  in  the  weight  and  power  of  the  guns  sent 
by  both  nations  to  sea. 

"  It  is  still  a  matter  of  the  greatest  surprise  to  those  who 
are  cognizant  of  the  endless  experiments  in  guns  and  projec- 
tiles which  are  every  day  made  by  the  Federal  and  Confed- 
erate States,  that  England  has  not  thought  it  worth  her  while 
to  attach  to  the  armies  of  both  nations  such  a  commission  as 
McClellan  had  in  the  Crimean  war,  with  a  view  to  their 
gaining  such  scientific  information  with  regard  to  ordnance 
and  projectiles  as  at  this  moment  can  be  gained  nowhere  else 
on  earth.  It  is  mv  convietion  that  from  both  sections  such 
commissioners  would  receive  nothing  but  courteous  and  un- 
reserved information  upon  all  that  it  imported  them  to  know. 
It  is  scarcely  creditable  to  our  Government  that  they  should 
be  blind  to  the  opportunities  for  gaining  information  which 
this  gigantic  conflict  affords,  or  that,  from  Old  World  pride, 
they  should  refuse  to  avail  themselves  of  the  experience  to 
bo  derived  from  a  continent  destined  henceforth  and  ever- 
more to  play  no  secondary  part  in  the  drama  of  the  world." 


53 

The  second  opinion  is  taken  from  the  Army  and  Navy 
Gazette  (London) : 

"  It  may  be  concluded  as  certain  that  the  guns  used  by 
Gillmore  were  Parrott's  rifled  ordnance.  Their  work  has 
been  effectually  done.  Had  such  guns  been  available  in  the 
trenches  before  Sebastopol,  the  Allies  would  have  made  short 
work,  not  only  of  the  Redan  and  Malakoff,  and  bastion  du 
mat,  but  of  the  shipping  and  of  the  forts  at  the  other  side  of 
the  harbor.  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Sumter  was  a 
flimsy,  gingerbread  fort.  It  was  constructed  of  a  peculiar 
kind  of  hard,  close  brick,  six  and  seven  feet  thick  ;  the 
arches  of  the  casemates  and  the  supporting  pillars  were  of 
eight  and  nine  feet  thickness.  The  faces  presented  to  the 
breaching  batteries  must  have  subtended,  at  3,500  yards,  an 
exceedin<>;lv  small  ano-le,  and  the  elevation  of  the  fort  was 
low.  But  so  great  was  the  accuracy  of  the  fire,  that  a  vast 
proportion  of  the  shots  struck  it ;  so  great  the  penetration, 
that  the  brickwork  was  perforated  '  like  a  rotten  cheese  ; '  so 
low  the  trajectory,  that  the  shot,  instead  of  plunging  into, 
passed  through  the  fort,  and  made  clean  breaches  through 
both  walls.  Now,  the  guns  that  did  this  work  cost,  we  be- 
lieve, just  one-fourth  of  our  ordnance,  cwt.  for  cwt. ;  they 
are  light  and  very  easily  handled.  The  gun  itself  is  finely 
rifled,  with  grooves  varying  from  four  and  five  in  number, 
for  small  calibres,  to  six  and  seven  for  the  larger ;  but,  as 
Mr.  Parrott  is  still  '  experimenting,'  no  settled  plan  has  been 
arrived  at,  and  all  we  know  is  that  the  pitch  is  not  so  sharp 
as  is  the  case  in  our  rifled  guns.  The  projectile  is  like  the 
conical  Armstrong,  and  has  a  leaden  sabot  and  coating — at 
least  it  is  coated  and  based  with  some  soft  metal. 

"  In  this  journal  the  attention  of  the  Government  au- 
thorities has  been  called,  again  and  again,  to  the  Parrott  and 
Dahlgren  guns.  The  Americans  have  constructed  cannon 
of  calibres  which  to  us  are  known  only  as  of  theoretical  and 
probable  attainment,  and  they  have  armed  batteries  hun- 
dreds of  miles  from  their  arsenals,  with  the  most  powerful 
guns  ever  used  in  war,  which  have  been  carried  by  sea  and 


54 

in  stormy  waters  to  the  enemy's  shores.  Before  such  projec- 
tiles as  these  gnus  carry,  the  breaching  of  masonry,  whether 
of  brick  or  stone,  is  a  question  of  short  time.  And,  in  face 
of  these  facts,  we  are  obliged  to  record  that  our  scientific 
officers  are  of  opinion  that  our  '  best  gun  for  breaching  pur- 
poses is  the  old  68-pounder  !  '  Why,  we  know  what  that 
<-an  do  !  We  know  that  at  8,500  yards  its  fire  would  be 
about  as  effectual  as  that  of  Mons.  Meg.  These  trials  at  two 
hundred  yards  are  perfectly  fatuous,  if  no  other  results  than 
these,  or  such  as  these,  be  gained  by  them.  It  is  of  no  use 
saying  Sumter  was  of  brick  ;  it  was  at  least  as  good  a  work 
as  most  of  our  existing  fortifications,  and  infinitely  less  easy 
'  to  splinter  up  '  than  a  work  of  granite  or  rubble  masonry. 
In  substance  it  resembled  very  much  our  martello  towers  on 
the  beach  at  Hythc.  Have  we  any  gun  which  could  breach 
one  of  these  at  3,500  yards  ?  .  .  .  The  authorities  have 
had  no  experience  of  the  effect  of  such  shot  as  the  Dahlgrens 
propel.  They  have  not  got  the  guns  to  discharge  them. 
When  next  the  ordnance  officers  and  gentlemen  meet,  let 
them  apply  their  minds  to  the  little  experiments  the  Ameri- 
cans have  been  making  for  their  benefit  at  Sumter.  It  is 
astounding  to  sec  what  progress  has  been  made  in  artillery 
since  the  Crimean  war." 

Another  English  periodical,  by  no  means  favorable  to 
Americans,  makes  the  following  observations  upon  the  ope- 
rations at  Charleston  : 

"'The  Swamp  Angel,'  as  the  Federals  call  the  big  gun 
of  General  Gillmore,  has  surely  bellowed  loud  enough  at 
Sumter  to  wake  up  some  of  our  critics  at  home  to  what  is  a 
fact  in  despite  of  them.  As  they  have  underestimated  the 
civil  contest,  so  they  have  overlooked  the  Titanic  character 
of  the  military  duel,  peddling  and  muddling  over  strategics 
on  the  map,  and  blind,  meanwhile,  to  the  revolution  which 
these  giant  combatants  are  accomplishing  in  the  art  of  war- 
fare. If  the"  Americans  are  vain  of  being  '  big,'  why  not  do 
them  the  justice  of  confessing  that  they  attain  that  adjec- 


55 

tive,  in  their  contentions,  their  sufferings,  and  their  engines 
and  methods  of  warfare  ?     Twice  in  the  course  of  this  two- 
years'  struggle  they  have  altered  the  complexion  of  the  sci- 
ence of  destruction — once  on  the  water,  and  once  on  land. 
The  Monitor  and  Merrimac  confessedly  initiated  a  new  era 
in  naval  tactics.     The  plates  of  both  are  hardly  rusted  by 
the  salt-water   into  which   they  went   down  so   soon  ;   but 
already  every  country  that  pretends  to  keep  the  sea  armed  is 
fitting  out  vessels  after  their  kind.     Now,  it  is  a  revolution 
in  the  art  of  attack  by  battery  and  defense  by  battlements, 
which  these  energetic  fighters  have  developed.     Sumter  is 
down — breached  and  shattered  into  such  a  ruin  that  hardly 
one  stone  stands  upon  another.     And   this,  after  repeated 
failure  with  such  artillery  as  could  be  made  to  float  aboard 
ship,  has  been  accomplished  by  enormous  cannon  fixed  on  a 
land-battery,   discharging    bolts   of    two    hundred    pounds' 
weight,  at  a  range  of  four  thousand  four  hundred  yards. 
Six  hundred  of  these  Olympian  thunderbolts  were  hurled 
across  this  interval  upon  the  walls  and  parapets  of  Sumter 
during  the  course  of  three  days,  and  with  such  deadly  accu- 
racy that  the  proud  keystone  fortress  of  Charleston  Harbor 
withered  under   them  ;    and   an   eyewitness  writes,  that   a 
moldy  cheese  fired  at  for  a  month  with  pistols  could  not 
present  a  more  forlorn  appearance  than  Fort  Sumter  at  the 
close  of  the  bombardment.     No  arsenal  is' safe,  no  empire 
secure,  which  is  too  proud  to  study  this  lesson.     Neverthe- 
less, what  is  chiefly  remarkable  about  the   destruction  of 
Sumter  is  the  range  at  which  it  was  accomplished,  and  the 
precision  of  the  fire  by  which  these  huge  bolts  were  flung. 
The    200-pounders   are   said    to    have    gone    through    and 
through,  till  the  further  channel  of  the  fort  could  be  seen 
between  the  gaping  rents  and  fissures  of  the  double  wall. 
Neither   Mr.  Whitworth   nor   Sir  William  Armstrong  has 
shown  us  anything  in  range  and  accuracy  like  this.     The 
American  officers  have,  first  in  their  profession,  laid,  and 
kept  at  work  throughout  three  days,  siege-guns  the  like  of 
which  for  weight  were  last  used  when  Mohammed  besieged 
Constantinople.     We  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  our  Spit- 


56 

head  forts  must  be  reconsidered,  as  to  structure  and  position, 
if  our  enemies,  whoever  they  may  be,  can  be  made  to  fire 
these  American  guns  from  their  floating  batteries." 

The  facts  upon  which  these  Englishmen  have  been  com- 
pelled to  review  and  change  their  opinions  of  American 
aifairs  are  such  as  all  Americans  should  know  and  study, 
and  they  are  presented  to  the  reader,  in  order  that  he  may 
feel  confidence  in  American  genius,  and  know  the  nature  and 
power  of  our  new  weapons  of  war.  It  is  proposed  to  con- 
fine these  statements  to  our  largest  cannon,  for  they  alone 
are  peculiarly  American.  The  300-pounder  Parrot t  gun  is 
the  most  destructive  one,  at  long  ranges,  which  has  as  yet 
been  used,  either  in  this  country  or  elsewhere. 

Its  range  is  between  five  and  six  miles,  and  Charleston 
has  been  effectually  shelled  at  a  distance  of  five  miles.  This 
gun,  as  is  said,  has  thrown  its  shot  through  nine  inches  of 
solid  iron. 

The  200-pounder  Parrott  rifle  has  a  range  scarcely  less 
than  the  former ;  and  with  these  guns  Sumter  was  riddled 
and  demolished  at  the  distance  of  two  miles  and  a  half — a 
feat  before  unheard  of  in  all  the  records  of  war.  In  the  de- 
struction of  Fort  Sumter  the  Monitors  and  the  New  Iron- 
sides assisted,  but  the  work  was  performed  mainly  by  the 
land-batteries,  because  the  destruction  was  certain  without 
exposure  of  the  fleet,  and  with  little  loss  of  life.  Some  of 
the  Monitors  are  armed  with  one  of  these  guns,  and  one  fif- 
teen-inch one.  The  shot  of  the  fifteen-inch  gun  weighs  425 
pounds,  and  the  shell  334  pounds.  These  monster  guns, 
being  as  yet  experiments,  have  been  handled  very  cautiously 
in  regard  to  the  charges  of  powder.  In  the  trial  of  this  gun 
at  Fortress  Monroe,  General  Barnard,  of  the  Engineer  Corps, 
says  the  shell,  with  a  charge  of  forty  pounds  of  large-grained 
powder,  had  an  initial  velocity  of  1,32S  feet  per  second,  and 
a  range  of  more  than  three  miles,  with  28°  35'  elevation. 

He  gives  his  opinion  that  the  maximum  range  of  this  gun 
is  "considerably  beyond  four  miles."  It  has  been  lately 
found  that  these,  as  well  as  our  other  large  cast-iron  smooth- 


57 

bores,  will  bear  charges  heavier  than  those  hitherto  used. 
The  French  armor-plates  are  said  to  be  superior  in  resisting 
power  to  the  English  ones.  A  French  plate,  six  inches 
thick,  and  prepared  especially  for  a  target,  was  lately,  at  the 
Washington  Navy  Tard,  smashed  in  pieces  by  a  single  shot 
from  one  of  these  fifteen-inch  guns. 

"  While  rifle  seacoast  guns  give  vastly  increased  accu- 
racy, range,  and  penetration  at  the  higher  elevations,  the 
effect  upon  armored  vessels  of  their  projectiles  of  relatively 
smaller  diameter  is  very  much  less  destructive  than  the 
smashing  shock  of  the  immense  iron  spheres  projected  from 
the  thirteen,  the  fifteen,  or  the  twenty-inch. 

"  There  is  no  longer  any  question  of  the  fact,  that  the 
introduction  of  guns  which  project  such  enormous  spheres 
of  iron  have  restored  to  forts  their  pristine  superiority  over 
ships.  No  sea-going  armored  vessel  ?an  withstand  the  shock 
of  a  fifteen-inch  shot ;  and  it  is  believed  that  a  thirteen-inch, 
or  even  a  ten-inch  solid  shot,  will  be  found  to  be  quite  as 
effective.  It  is,  therefore,  safe  to  assert,  that  our  harbors, 
defended  by  forts  armed  with  such  guns,  and  having  the  ad- 
vantage of  artificial  submarine  obstructions,  are  securely 
barred  against  any  ship  that  can  cross  the  ocean.  The 
wreck  produced  by  the  impact  of  these  mighty  spheres  will 
set  at  defiance  the  most  energetic  efforts  of  ships'  pumps  or 
ship-carpenters'  plugs ;  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  brief  but 
eloquent  duel  of  the  Weehawken  and  the  Atlanta,  the  men 
of  which  latter  vessel  were  driven  below  from  their  guns, 
and  could  not  be  induced  to  return  to  them,  it  produces  a 
moral  effect  as  irresistible  as  it  is  fatal." 

The  armor  of  the  Atlanta,  equal,  as  is  said,  to  five  inches 
of  solid  iron,  was  pierced  by  a  shot  from  a  fifteen-inch  gun, 
and  the  ship  captured. 

The  Government  has  lately  constructed  a  thirteen-inch 
gun  of  the  same  external  dimensions,  or  nearly  so,  as  the 
fifteen-inch  gun.  It  is  supposed  that  this  will  bear  a  much 
heavier  charge  of  powder,  and  the  velocity  and  range  of  the 


58 

shot  be  proportionately  greater.  To  test  the  penetrating  and 
smashing  power  of  cannon-shot,  a  ten-inch  gun  was  lately 
Loaded  heavily  and  fired  at  an  iron  target  ten  inches  thick, 
and  the  ball  pierced  it  through. 

The  heavy  Parrott  rifles  will  pierce  armor-plates  of  four 
inches'  and  live  inches'  thickness  with  ease.     The  300-pounder 
smashes  a  nine-inch  plate  ;  ami  Stafford's  projectiles,  thrown 
troni  a  cast-iron  smooth-bore,  have  gone  through  seyen  inch 
of  solid  iron,  with  only  fourteen  pounds  of  powder. 

These  facts,  in  connection  with  what  has  been  before 
stated,  will  enable  one  to  judge  of  the  comparative  power 
of  our  navy,  and  our  means  of  attack  and  defence.  The 
reader  must  remember  that  the  results  already  reached  are 
the  first  fruits  only  of  American  genius  when  earnestly  ap- 
plied to  the  arts  of  war  ;  and  that  experiments  are  even  now 
going  on  which  promise  still  more  formidable  cannon  than 
any  now  in  use. 

In  estimating  the  power  of  our  weapons,  the  reader  must 
not  forget  that  the  old  solid  cast-iron  spherical  shot  and  the 
spherical  shell  are  no  longer  the  most  formidable  projectiles 
used  in  cannon.  Elongated  shot  and  shells  of  many  differ- 
ent forms  are  used  in  our  rifled  cannon,  and  lately  such  pro- 
jectiles have  been  used  in  our  smooth-bores,  and  even  in  the 
fifteen-inch  guns.  According  to  Captain  Rodgers'  report,  it 
was,  however,  a  spherical  shut  from  a  fifteen-inch  gun  which 
smashed  the  side  of  the  Atlanta,  and  drove  the  crew  in  a 
panic  from  their  guns — the  eleven-inch  gun  having  failed  to 
injure  her. 

Some  of  these  elongated  missiles,  whose  length  is  about 
twice  and  a  halt'  their  diameter,  are  rounded  like  a  cone,  some 
are  flat-headed,  some  have  the  end  formed  like  a  punch,  some 
are  cast  iron,  some  are  of  chilled  iron,  some  have  case-hardened 
end.-,  some  are  of  wrought  iron,  and  some  are  of  steel.  These 
last  are  Miid  to  be  the  mosl  destructive  shot  which  have  yet 
been  tried,  so  far  as  penetration  is  concerned  ;  but  whether 
these  or  the  smashing  heavy  shot — a  425-pounder — would 
soonest  destroy  a  ship  or  fort,  is  a  question  yet  to  be  tried. 

The  reader  can   now  form  an    intelligent  opinion  of  the 


59 

comparative  power  for  attack  and  resistance  of  the  American 
and  the  European  iron-clad.  But  before  the  direct  compari- 
son is  made,  let  the  following  statement  be  carefully  read. 
It  is  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  most  competent  judges  of 
such  matters  in  this  country — the  editor  of  the  Scientific 
American — upon  the  condition  of  the  Monitors  after  the 
attack  upon  Sumter  ;  an  opinion  formed,  as  is  shown,  after  a 
personal  inspection  of  the  vessel  most  injured  in  the  fight : 

"  Now  that  the  smoke  of  battle  has  cleared  away,  and 
the  fearful  cannonading  at  Fort  Sumter,  which  so  annoyed 
the  twittering  reporters,  has  ceased,  we  may  review  the  event 
dispassionately  and  with  reason,  at  least  in  so  far  as  it  con- 
cerns the  offensive  and  defensive  powers  of  the  Monitors. 
The  daily  press,  through  its  accredited  representatives,  made 
great  haste  to  assure  the  public  that  their  favorite  batteries, 
those  in  which  (not  unwisely)  they  placed  the  greatest  con- 
fidence, were  altogether  unsuitable,  and,  in  fact,  were  not 
available  against  heavy  artillery.     At  the  time  we  were  com- 
pelled, against  our  judgment,  in  view  of  the  overwhelming 
representations  of  these  self-constituted  authorities,  to  accept 
as  a  fact  that  we  were  beaten  in  the  contest,  and  compelled 
to  retire  from  the  fort  by  sheer  force  alone.     Even  at  the 
time  of  the  action,  and  in  days  supervening,  that  portion  of 
the  press  of  the  country  who  criticised  the  conduct  of  the 
attack  were   immediately  frowned   down,   and,  to   say  the 
least,  sent  to  '  Coventry '  by  other  papers,  whose  interests  or 
opinions  led  them  to  sustain  the  part  our  commanders  took 
on  that  occasion.     We  were  treated  with  graphic  accounts 
of  the  effects  of  the  rebel  shot  on  the  Monitor's  turrets  ;  and 
it  was  asserted  that  the  most  destructive  shot  that  was  fired 
on  the  occasion  struck  the  Passaic's  turret  near  the  top,  and, 
after  scooping  out  an  immense  portion  of  it,  broke  all  the 
eleven  plates,  and  spent  its  force  on  the  pilot-house,  which  it 
very  nearly  demolished.     This  is  the  spirit,  if  not  the  exact 
letter,  of  the  accounts  furnished.     Now,  we  have  examined 
the  turret  of  the  Passaic  since  her  arrival  here  for  repairs, 
and,  with  all  due  respect  for  the  reporter's  rhetoric  and  his 


60 

sensational  paragraph,  we  must  say  that  it  is  hosli.  The  shot 
did  strike  the  turret,  did  scoop  out  a  portion  (which  might 
weigh  twenty-five  pounds),  and  did  strike  the  pilot-house 
with  great  force,  hesides  breaking  the  turret-plates  in  its 
passage.  But  what  of  all  this?  When  iron  meets  iron  (as 
when  Greek  meets  Greek),  then  comes  the  tug  of  war ;  and 
it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  shot,  moving  at  the  rate  of  say 
1,500  feet  per  second,  will  strike  an  iron  structure  in  its 
weakest  part  and  not  damage  it. 

"  The  simple  facts  of  this  loudly -trumpeted  performance 
of  the  rebels  are,  that  the  shot  which  struck  the  Passaic  did 
not  endanger  her  safety  in  the  least ;  for  all  the  effect  they 
had  on  her  externally,  she  might  have  been  fighting  away 
till  this  hour,  and,  in  reality,  have  been  none  the  worse  for 
it.  "We  have  examined  the  shot-marks  on  the  Passaic,  said 
to  be  sixty-eight  in  all,  though  we  did  not  count  them,  and 
find  an  accurate  representation  of  the  Whitworth  shot  im- 
pressed in  the  turret  in  many  places.  If  these  much-boasted 
projectiles  are  not  able  to  do  any  greater  damage  than  they 
did,  we  may  safely  defy  all  the  English  iron-clads  and  their 
armaments.  The  Whitworth  shot,  or  fac  similes  of  them, 
in  a  majority  of  cases,  struck  sideways  ;  they  reached  the 
turret  in  all  possible  positions,  and  show  very  poor  shooting 
on  the  part  of  the  rebels.  There  were  several  bolts  driven 
in  on  the  turret,  which  injured  the  persons  within  ;  but  the 
majority  of  the  indentations  and  scars  could  be  covered  by 
and  filled  with  a  common  tea-saucer.  These  are,  simply,  the 
'terrible'  effects  of  the  rebel  shot.  Now,  what  person  pos- 
sessing ordinary  judgment,  and  at  all  conversant  with  the 
properties  of  iron,  could  conscientiously  report  that  the 
Monitors  were  unable  to  cope  with  artillery  ?  For  our  own 
part,  we-assert  that  the  favorable  opinions  hitherto  expressed 
in  regard  to  those  vessels  have  been  greatly  strengthened, 
and  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that,  with  the  present  artil- 
lery, they  can  successfully  defy  any  fort  or  any  iron-clad 
afloat.  So  far  as  the  impregnability  of  their  armor  is  in- 
volved, we  would  not  hesitate  an  instant  to  confide  our  per- 
sonal safetv  to  the  thickness  of  their  walls.     We  have  no 


61 

desire  to  disparage  any  official  in  connection  with  this  sub- 
ject ;  but,  so  far  as  the  Monitors  being  disabled  (except  tem- 
porarily) in  the  late  attack  is  concerned,  we  must  avow  our 
utter  skepticism.  The  Passaic  is  the  only  iron-clad  sent 
North ;  ergo,  the  Passaic  must  be  the  one  most  injured. 
What  injuries  are  those  that  merely  indent  iron  plates  !  and 
what  terrible  shot  those  must  be  which  strike  and  leave  no 
sign  internally  to  tell  the  story  of  their  spent  force  and  im- 
potent rage !  "We  think  a  much  better  sensational  report 
could  have  been  made  on  the  occasion  by  writing  the  facts  : 
How  the  minions  of  the  rebel  Government  did  their  utmost 
to  demolish  the  Monitors,  and  how  signally  they  failed  ; 
how,  backed  and  aided  by  English  capital  and  skill,  they 
hurled  their  powerful  projectiles  against  the  impenetrable 
iron-clads,  and  were  worsted  in  the  encounter  ;  how  grandly 
those  little  vessels  withstood  the  enemy's  fury ;  and  how, 
saving  one  poor  little  egg-shell  craft,  they  bore  unflinchingly 
the  most  furious  cannonading  that  was  ever  known  in  the 
shortest  space  of  time.  These  features  would  have  been 
worth  commenting  upon  ;  and  were  we  in  the  rebels'  situa- 
tion, we  should  prefer  a  naval  assault  to  take  any  shape  but 
that  proceeding  from  a  fleet  of  those  vessels.  Properly 
handled  and  armed,  they  can  defy  any  ship  now  floating; 
and  improvements  are  being  made  which  will  render  their 
utility  past  all  doubt. 

"  We  have  considered  in  this  light  merely  the  question 
of  the  impregnability  of  the  Monitors —supposed  to  be  the 
first  requisite  of  a  modern  war-vessel.  That  they  have  other 
objectionable  features,  we  do  not  deny  ;  but,  taking  them  as 
representatives  of  fighting  machines — the  greatest  offensive 
power  in  the  very  smallest  compass — they  cannot  be  excelled, 
and  the  nation  does  well  to  estimate  them  among  its  stanchest 
defences. 

"  It  is  singular,  in  viewing  the  effects  of  the  shot  on  the 
Passaic's  turret,  to  note  that  they  exhibit  none  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  a  plunging  tire.  The  shot  that  '  scooped  out  a 
tremendous  portion '  of  the  top  of  the  Passaic's  turret,  struck 
the  pilot-house  at  nearly  the  same  height,  showing  that  it 


62 

must  have  been  fired  at  point-blank  range,  or  nearly  bo.  So 
alsq  those  that  struck  the  base  of  the  turret — no  marks  are 
visible  on  the  deck  which  would  lead  the  observer  to  suppose 
that  the  missiles  were  fired  from  such  an  elevation  as  the 
barbette  of  Fort  Sumter;  and  we  conjecture  that  the  bat- 
teries on  Morris  Island  and  Battery  Bee  must  have  taken  a 
hand  in  the  engagement,  although  we  think  it  is  stated  in 
the  reports  thai  those  batteries  were  silent." 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  every  form  of  missile^  shot, 
and  shell  which  English  skill  and  capital  could  Bupply,  was 
hurled  at  the  Monitors  in  that  light,  and  at  short  range,  and 
then,  in  the  light  of  the  foregoing  statement,  judge  of  their 
powers  of  endurance.  Let  it  now  be  supposed  that  one  of 
these  our  smallest  Monitors  were  to  engage  such  a  ship  as 
the  English  Warrior,  and  let  us  observe  the  comhatants.  Let 
them  be  placed  so  that  each  is  within  range  of  the  other's 
guns.  The  Monitor  carries  two  guns  ;  the  Warrior  has  forty. 
Of  the  Monitor's  guns,  one  is  a  fifteen-inch  smooth-bore,  the 
other  a  200-pounder  Parrott  rifle.  The  Warrior  has  twenty- 
eight  GS-pounder  smooth-bores  and  twelve  100-pounder  Arm- 
strong rifles.  First  observe  the  difference  in  the  surface 
which  each  presents  to  the  other's  lire  when  lying  broadside 
opposed  to  broadside.  This  would  not  often  be  the  case  in 
action,  perhaps,  but  it.  is  the  only  method  of  making  a  com- 
parison. The  exact  height  of  the  Warrior  above  the  water 
is  not  known  to  the  writer.  The  battery  of  the  Gloire  is 
said  to  be  six  feet  above  the  water,  and  the  lower  battery  of 
tin'  Normandie  is  eight  feet,  and  these  are  said  to  be  lower 
than  in  the  English  frigates,  and  too  low  for  service  in  a 
rough  sea. 

Without  pretending  to  entire  accuracy — nor  is  this  ne- 
cessary— it  will  probably  he  safe  to  estimate  the  sides  of  the 
Warrior  as  rising  eighteen  feet  above  the  water,  from  the 
water-line  to  the  top  of  her  bulwarks.  She  is  about  three 
hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  and  her  broadside  presents, 
therefore,  in  round  numbers,  0,800  square  feet  to  an  enemy's 
fire.     The  small  Monitors,  such  as  those  at  Charleston,  are 


G3 

two  hundred  feet  long.  Their  decks  are,  at  most,  it  is  said, 
not  more  than  twelve  inches  above  the  water,  and  this  nar- 
row strip  of  hull  and  the  turret  are  all  that  is  exposed.  The 
turret  is  about  twenty-two  feet  outside  diameter,  by  nine  feet 
high,  presenting  a  surface  of  not  quite  two  hundred  feet. 
The  hull  and  the  turret  together,  then,  offer  a  surface  of 
about  four  hundred  square  feet  to  fire,  compared  with  the 
more  than  6,000  square  feet  of  the  Warrior's  broadside. 

Here,  then,  is  at  once  an  immense  advantage  in  favor  of 
the  Monitor.  Her  chances  of  being  struck,  at  the  distance 
of  a  mile,  would  be  exceedingly  small,  while  at  that  distance 
the  huge  hull  of  the  broadside  frigate  would  be  almost  cer- 
tainly  hit  by  a  majority  of  shots  fired.  It  is  doubtless  true 
that  the  ships  in  action  would  not  often  thus  be  exposed 
broadside  to  broadside ;  and  vet  it  would  seem  that  this 
might  be  the  Warrior's  safest  position,  for  her  bow  and  stern 
are  unprotected  with  armor,  and  are  as  vulnerable  as  any 
wooden  ship. 

Let  their  comparative  vulnerability  be  now  considered. 
Experiment  has  conclusively  shown  that  no  gun  now  on 
board  the  Warrior,  or  any  other  European  ship,  can  pierce 
the  turret  of  a  Monitor,  or  even  materially  injure  her  side. 
The  bombardment  from  the  Charleston  forts  has  proved  this 
beyond  all  contradiction.  A  Monitor-,  therefore,  could  not 
be  materially  injured  by  the  Warrior's  guns.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  200-pounder  Parrott  gun  pierces  armor  like  that 
of  the  Warrior  with  ease ;  the  shot  from  the  fifteen-inch  gun 
pierced  the  Atlanta's  annor,  and  a  fifteen-inch  gun  has 
smashed  plates  much  thicker  than  the  armor  of  the  English 
ship  ;  and  we  have  the  opinion  of  General  Barnard,  already 
quoted,  that  no  sea-going,  armored  ship  can  withstand  the 
shock  of  a  fifteen-inch  shot. 

All  these  facts  go  to  show  that  the  boasted  Warrior  would 
be  overmatched  bv  one  of  our  small  Monitors,  like  those  at 
Charleston.  This  would  inevitably  be  the  case  if  she  were 
restricted  to  the  use  of  her  guns  only.  But  it  is  said  that 
such  a  frigate  could  easily  run  down  and  sink  a  Monitor.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  the   huge  frigate,  almost  four 


64 

hundred  feet  long,  is  unwieldy,  while  the  Monitors,  only 
half  as  long,  are  easily  manoeuvred.  It  requires,  as  is  said, 
fifteen  minutes  to  turn  the  Warrior,  and  it  may  be  seen, 
therefore,  that  it  is  probably  a  very  difficult  instead  of  an 
easy  thing  for  a  long,  heavy  frigate  to  run  down  a  Monitor. 
The  attacking  ship  would  be  much  more  likely  to  miss  her 
foe,  and  receive  the  fifteen-inch  and  200-pounder  rifled  shot 
at  short  range.  It  is  true,  a  slow  Monitor  cannot  pursue  and 
capture  a  swift  frigate  like  the  Warrior;  but  when  a  pet  ship 
of  the  English  navy  shall  avoid  a  combat  with  a  diminutive 
craft  like  a  Monitor,  it  will  do  more  to  establish  our  suprem- 
acy on  the  sea,  than  to  capture  that  frigate  in  battle.  Should 
a  European  iron-clad  ever  visit  our  shores  on  a  hostile  errand, 
it  will  not  endeavor  to  save  itself  from  a  Monitor  by  flight. 
In  such  a  case  the  issue  of  battle  must  be  tried. 

But  the  Warrior  is,  probably,  not  now  the  most  formida- 
ble ship  in  the  English  navy.  As  none  of  those  iron-clads 
have  been  yet  tested  in  battle,  it  is  impossible  to  judge  cor- 
rectly their  comparative  merits.  There  are  some  new  frig- 
ates, however,  of  about  the  "Warrior's  size,  whose  armor  over 
the  battery  is  stated  to  be,  for  one  five  inches,  for  another 
five  and  a  half  inches,  and  for  still  another  six  inches  in 
thickness ;  and  these  ships  are  reported  to  have  a  speed  of 
about  twelve  knots,  per  hour.  This  was  on  the  trial-trip,  and, 
as  with  our  own  vessels,  it  will  be  much  less  in  actual  ser- 
vice. 

Let  it  now  be  supposed  that  the  most  formidable  one  of 
this  class,  with  an  armor  six  inches  thick  in  the  central  por- 
tion of  the  ship,  the  vessel  being  of  the  Warrior's  size,  were 
matched  against  one  of  our  new  Monitors,  like  the  Again  en- 
ticus,  the  Monadnock,  or  the  Miantonomoh. 

These  Monitors  have  a  side-armor,  as  is  stated,  of  ten  and 
a  half  inches  in  thickness,  while  the  turrets  are  fifteen  inches 
thick.  No  shot  yet  fired,  either  here  or  in  England,  has 
penetrated  such  an  armor  as  this  ;  and  such  an  armor  cannot" 
be  placed  upon  a  broadside  ship  of  the  common  form  :  it 
would  sink  her  at  the  dock.  Between  the  English  frigate 
Minotaur,  part  of  whose  armor  is  said  to  be  six  inches  thick, 


65 

and  such  a  Monitor  as  the  Agamenticns,  there  would  be  the 
same  disparity  before  mentioned,  in  the  surfaces  exposed  to 
shot.  The  Minotaur  is  more  than  four  times  the  tonnage  of 
such  a  Monitor,  and  while  the  deck  of  the  Monitor  lies 
almost  level  with  the  water,  the  Minotaur  presents  her  huge 
broadside  high  above  the  water-line,  and  four  hundred  feet 
long.  The  Monitor,  besides  having  this  immense  advantage 
in  the  chances  of  being  hit  by  shot,  is  herself  invulnerable 
to  any  cannon  now  in  use  ;  while  the  fifteen-inch  gun  she  car- 
ries smashes  through  a  six-inch  plate  of  the  best  French 
manufacture,  and  her  Parrott  shot  goes  through  plates  six 
inches  and  even  nine  inches  thick.  How,  then,  will  the 
Minotaur  withstand  the  Monitor's  attack  ?  Nothing  is 
plainer  than  that  she  cannot  do  it  with  her  guns.  Can  the 
frigate  run  the  Monitor  down  ?  It  is  useless  to  speculate 
upon  the  issue  of  such  an  experiment.  The  Monitors  are 
also  rams  of  a  very  formidable  kind,  and  the  broadside  frig- 
ate, considering  the  effect  of  the  Monitor's  guns  at  short 
range,  would,  to  say  the  least,  be  in  as  great  peril  as  the 
American  vessel.  But  if  the  Minotaur  cannot  run  down 
such  a  Monitor,  and  should  choose  to  continue  the  combat,  it 
is  a  matter  of  certainty  that  she  would  be  captured  or  sunk. 
But  again  :  suppose  any  European  ship  of  which  we  have 
any  account  should  engage  the  Dictator.  Her  side-armor, 
more  than  eleven  inches  thick,  and  her  turret,  fifteen  inches, 
cannot  be  pierced  by  any  shot  now  known. 

She,  too,  lies  almost  level  with  the  water,  presenting  a 
small  mark  to  her  adversary,  and,  with  half  the  tonnage  of 
the  Minotaur,  she  has  engines  of  5,000  indicated  horse- 
power, while  the  "Warrior  and  Minotaur  have  scarcely  the 
same  amount  of  engine-power.  The  Dictator,  then,  ought 
to  be  much  the  fastest  vessel,  but  this  must  be  determined 
by  trial.  Certainty,  however,  she  cannot,  with  such  engines, 
be  a  slow  ship.  She  is  built  especially  for  a  ram,  and  she 
will  carry  two  guns  of  no  less  power  than  the  fifteen-inch 
gun  and  the  300-pounder  Parrott,  because  we  know  that  we 
have  those  at  command.  But  Mr.  Ericsson  is  making  his 
own  guns  for  this   new  ship,  to  be  applied  hereafter,  and 

5 


66 

expects  them  to  be  more  formidable  than  any  now  in  nse. 
Should  he  not  succeed  in  this,  we  already  have  cannon  in 
her  turret,  that,  in  the  opinion  of  our  best  engineer  officers, 
no  sea-going  ship  can  withstand.  What  chance  would  the 
Minotaur  have  with  the  Dictator  % 

Or,  finally,  select  the  most  powerful  broadside  ship  in  the 
English  navy,  and  place  her  by  the  side  of  Mr.  "Webb's  im- 
mense frigate  and  ram  combined,  the  Dunderberg.  Her  size 
is  equal  to  the  Minotaur,  or  nearly  so.  Her  turrets  cannot 
be  penetrated  ;  her  casemates  and  sides  are  as  well  protected 
as  those  of  the  English  ships ;  she  will  have  engines  of  far 
greater  power ;  and  her  guns  will  crash  through  any  armor 
that  a  broadside  ship  can  float.  The  reader  can  judge  what 
the  result  of  an  engagement  would  be  between  any  Euro- 
pean ship  now  known,  and  either  the  Dictator,  the  Puritan, 
or  the  Dunderberg. 

Compared  with  their  tonnage  and  displacement,  these 
ships  have,  by  far,  the  most  powerful  engines  ever  placed  on 
a  war-ship.  They  ought  to  be  the  swiftest  armed  vessels 
afloat.  This  remains  to  be  tried.  Should  they  prove  so, 
however,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  England  and  France  will  once 
more  be  compelled  to  begin  their  navies  anew,  if  they  intend 
to  attack  the  United  States. 

Such  is  the  navy  which  the  United  States  Government 
has  created  in  a  little  more  than  two  years ;  and,  gigantic 
and  efficient  as  it  already  is,  it  is  but  the  first  step  in  our 
new  career — only  the  earnest,  the  first  fruits,  of  what  the 
nation  is  capable  of  performing.  American  genius  has  not 
yet  reached  the  limit  of  its  inventive  power,  and  we  have  no 
reason  to  fear  that  it  will  not  hereafter,  as  it  has  hitherto 
done,  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  Europe. 

Mr.  Ericsson's  invention  not  only  saved  the  country  in  an 
hour  of  great  peril,  but  it  will  revolutionize  the  structure  of 
war-ships,  for  the  Monitors  and  the  big  guns,  smooth-bore 
and  rilled,  have  rendered  it  certain  that  no  broadside  ship 
can  cross  the  ocean  which  our  vessels  cannot  sink  ;  and  Mr. 
Webb's  monster  sea-going  ram  seems  likely  to  present  ano- 
ther American  idea,  which  will  attract  the  attention  of  the 
world. 


67 

The  Government  has  been  severely  criticised  for  con- 
structing so  many  Monitors,  and  no  broadside  and  swift  ves- 
sels. Events  will  probably  vindicate  the  wisdom  of  those 
who  have  controlled  the  navy.  The  country  needed,  first  of 
all,  not  so  much  swift  ships,  nor  large  ocean  cruisers,  to 
match  the  European  navies,  as  batteries,  for  coast  service,  as 
nearly  invulnerable  as  human  skill  and  science  then  could 
make  them. 

This  want  was  undeniably  met  by  the  Monitors  better 
than  it  could  have  been  by  any  other  vessels  yet  known.  It 
needed,  at  the  same  time,  gunboats  for  the  rivers.  It  will  be 
conceded  that  these  have  done  admirable  service,  and,  so  far 
as  yet  appears,  the  best  of  them  will  be  used  as  models  for 
future  fleets.  The  broadside  type  of  iron-clads  was  followed 
in  the  New  Ironsides,  and,  notwithstanding  she  is  one  of  the 
finest  frigates  of  this  class  afloat,  yet,  as  the  improvements 
in  cannon  show  how  easily  her  armor  can  be  pierced,  no  one 
will  regret  that  these  experiments  in  artillery  have  been 
made  before  we  had  expended  $250,000,000,  as  England  has 
done,  in  constructing  broadside  ships.  If  a  fleet  of  iron-clad 
broadside  ships  is  needed  at  any  time  hereafter,  we  can  con- 
struct it  with  all  the  added  light  derived  from  the  experi- 
ments of  the  world. 

The  country  needed  swift  wooden  cruisers  for  the  work 
of  the  blockade,  and  the  Navy  Department  has  furnished 
from  its  own  yards  some  of  the  fastest  ships  that  float — ves- 
sels that  overhaul  the  swiftest  blockade  runners  that  ever  left 
an  English  port ;  and  these  ships  are  the  beginning  of  a  new 
class  of  American  ships  which,  in  speed  and  power  of  arma- 
ment, are  not  yet  matched  elsewhere.  Having  produced 
such  a  navy  in  a  little  more  than  three  years,  and  which  is 
only  the  germ  of  the  future  American  navy,  with  a  commer- 
cial marine  already  greater  than  that  even  of  England,  with 
unlimited  resources  at  command,  with  two  great  oceans 
washing  a  coast-line  of  thousands  of  miles,  nothing  seems 
too  great  to  anticipate  in  regard  to  the  future  naval  power 
of  America. 

We  want,  however,  no  fleets  for  conquest ;  we  have  no 


68 

wish  to  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  other  nations — as  Eng- 
land and  France  have  threatened,  and  still  desire,  in  regard 
to  us — and  enough  is  already  known  to  show  them  that,  until 
some  new  war-ship  shall  be  invented  in  Europe,  no  fleet  can 
be  sent  to  invade  us  that  cannot  be  destroyed  with  the  means 
we  already  have  ;  and  we  may  feel  entire  confidence  that  the 
genius  of  our  inventors  and  the  skill  of  our  workmen  will 
hereafter  devise  ships  and  guns  that  will  protect,  on  every 
sea,  the  Stripes  and  Stars,  which  will  represent,  hereafter,  a 
Free  and  Christian  American  Nation. 

Letters  have  been  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
upon  the  subject  of  the  Monitors  and  the  fifteen-inch  guns, 
by  three  of  our  most  distinguished  naval  officers — Commodore 
Rodgers,  Admiral  Porter,  and  Admiral  Dahlgren — whose 
opinions  are  so  important  that  extracts  from  them  are  added 
here,  for  the  views  of  such  men  in  high  official  stations  should 
be  considered  as  decisive  upon  subjects  with  which  they  are 
perfectly  familiar.  Every  American  will  feel  encouraged,  in 
regard  to  the  present  and  future  of  the  American  navy,  by 
these  letters,  while  they  cannot  fail  to  make  a  profound  im- 
pression on  Europe. 

In  describing  the  difference  between  the  ordinary  ship 
and  the  Monitor  model,  Commodore  Rodgers  says  : 

"  In  the  Ironsides  class,  the  hull  of  a  wooden  man-of-war, 
as  constructed  for  general  purposes,  is  clad  with  iron.  It  is 
true,  some  modification*)!'  shape  and  increase  of  size  is  re- 
quired to  meet  the  additional  weight  which  she  has  to  carry ; 
but  still,  in  essentials,  she  is  a  vessel  of  the  ordinary  model ; 
she  has  the  advantage  of  ample  quarters  for  her  crew,  with 
free  access  to  her  decks  in  storms  ;  with  natural  ventilation  ; 
with  abundance  of  light ;  with  numerous  guns,  giving  her  a 
rapidity  of  fire  unattainable  in  a  Monitor,  and  essential  in 
battering  forts ;  and  she  is  as  able  to  carry  canvas  as  other 
men-of-war. 

"  The  Monitor  class,  as  far  as  I  know,  is  new.     If  I  un- 
derstand the  idea,  it  is  to  cut  off  all  the  surface  above  water, 


69 

except  that  which  may  be  necessary  to  flotation,  and  to  carry 
the  guns  in  a  revolving  turret,  or  turrets,  near  the  centre  of 
motion,  supported  upon  the  keel  and  kelsons. 

"  The  plans  upon  which  Mr.  Ericsson  has  worked  out  this 
idea  of  his  may  be  modified  by  further  experience  ;  but  the 
idea  itself  will  be  employed  while  iron-clad  vessels  are  used 
in  warfare." 


He  describes  the  advantage  of  the  Ericsson  model  as  fol- 


lows 


"  It  has  these  advantages  : 

"  The  Monitor  has  the  least  possible  surface  to  be  plated, 
and  therefore  takes  the  least  possible  tonnage  to  float  armor 
of  a  given  thickness,  or,  with  a  given  tonnage,  allows  the 
greatest  possible  thickness  of  armor,  and,  consequently,  the 
greatest  possible  impregnability.  The  ability  to  carry  armor 
is  proportionable  to  the  tonnage,  but  the  Monitor  of  844  tons 
has  actually  thicker  plating  than  the  Ironsides  of  3,480  tons, 
and  than  the  Warrior  of  6,000  ;  and  yet  the  Ironsides  and 
"Warrior  have  only  the  middle  portion  of  their  hulls  plated, 
their  ends  being  merely  of  wood  without  armor. 

"  The  guns  of  the  Monitors,  near  the  centre  of  motion, 
are  supported  upon  the  keel  and  kelsons,  upborne  by  the 
depth  of  water  under  them,  and  carried  by  the  whole 
strength  of  the  hull. 

"  In  Monitors  heavier  guns  are,  therefore,  practicable 
than  can  ever  be  carried  in  broadside  out  upon  the  ribs  of  a 
ship. 

"  In  the  Monitors,  concentration  of  guns  and  armor  is  the 
object  sought. 

"  In  them  the  plating  is  compressed  into  inches  of  eleva- 
tion ;  while  in  the  Ironsides  class  it  is  extended  over  feet ; 
and  the  comparatively  numerous  guns  distributed  over  the 
decks  of  the  Ironsides  class  are  moulded  into  a  few  larger 
ones  in  the  turrets  of  the  Monitors." 

In  speaking  of  the  principle  upon  which  the  Monitors  are 
armed,  he  says : 


70 

"  "When  power  enough  is  required  in  the  individual  guns 
to  crush  and  pierce  the  side  of  an  adversary  at  a  single  blow, 
the  most  formidable  artillery  must  be  employed — and  fifteen- 
inch  guns  are  the  most  formidable  which,  so  far,  we  have 
tried ;  but  no  vessel  of  the  Ironsides  class  can  carry  these 
aims,  and  the  Monitors  actually  do  carry  them.  If  target 
experiments  are  reliable,  a  shot  from  a  fifteen-inch  gun  will 
crush  in  the  side  of  any  vessel  of  the  Ironsides  class  in  Eu- 
rope or  America.  A  single  well-planted  blow  would  sink 
either  the  Warrior,  La  Gloire,  Magenta,  Minotaur,  or  the 
Bellerophon." 

Commodore  Rodgers  says,  also,  that  the  Monitors  roll  very 
little  in  a  seaway,  and  relates  the  following  incident  to  show 
their  steadiness.  A  bottle  of  claret,  he  says,  remained  stand- 
ing for  an  hour  on  the  dinner-table  of  the  "Weehawken  at  a 
time  when  no  one  could  stand  on  the  deck  of  her  convoy,  the 
Iroquois,  a  fine  sea-boat,  without  holding  on  to  the  life-lines. 

Admiral  Dahlgren  declares  that,  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
Government  in  this  war,  the  Monitors  are  far  better  than  the 
broadside  models  adopted  by  France  and  England;  and  that, 
if  contractors  had  met  the  Government  demand,  every  South- 
ern port  would,  ere  this,  have  been  in  our  possession. 

Admiral  Porter  says  that,  with  one  of  our  Monitors, 
he  could  begin  at  Cairo,  and,  going  down  the  Mississippi, 
destroy  every  vessel  we  have  on  the  "Western  waters,  unless 
they  should  escape  by  flight. 

Commodore  Rodgers  states  his  conclusions  as  follows  : 

"  To  sum  up  my  conclusions,  I  think  that  the  Monitor 
class  and  the  Ironsides  class  are  different  weapons,  each  hav- 
ing its  peculiar  advantages — both  needed  to  an  iron-clad 
navy — both  needed  in  war  ;  but  that,  when  the  Monitor 
class  measures  its  strength  against  the  Ironsides  class,  then, 
with  vessels  of  equal  size,  the  Monitor  class  will  overpower 
the  Ironsides  class  ;  and,  indeed,  a  single  Monitor  will  cap- 
ture many  casemated  vessels  of  no  greater  individual  size  or 
speed  :  and  as  vessels  find  their  natural  antagonists  in  ships, 


71 

it  must  be  considered  that,  upon  the  whole,  the  Monitor  prin- 
ciple contains  the  most  successful  elements  for  plating  vessels 
for  war  purposes. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient 
servant, 

"  John  Rodgers,  Commodore  TJ.  S.  JV. 
"  Hon.  Gideon  Welles,  Secretary  of  the  NavyP 

The  importance  of  these  statements  from  experienced 
naval  officers,  who  have  been  eye-witnesses  of  the  perform- 
ance of  the  Monitors,  and.  the  effect  of  the  shot  of  the  fifteen- 
inch  guns,  cannot  be  overrated.  They  seem  to  insure  our 
nation  from  foreign  attack,  at  least,  until  great  changes  are 
made  in  naval  war.  No  ship  of  the  broadside  class.  Com- 
modore Rodgers  thinks,  can  carry  a  fifteen-inch  gun  safely, 
while  the  Monitors  do  carry  them  ;  and  one  well-directed 
shot  from  one  of  these  guns,  he  says,  would  sink  any  broad- 
side vessel,  even  the  last  and  most  powerful  ones  of  England 
or  France. 

Every  American  should  reflect  upon  the  bearing  which 
these  facts  have  upon  the  future  of  our  nation.  It  is  proved, 
beyond  dispute,  that  we  can  build  vessels  of  the  Monitor 
class  which  can  traverse,  safely,  the  whole  American  coast, 
which  no  artillery  carried  on  a  broadside  ship  can  penetrate, 
while  the  cannon  which  a  Monitor  can  carry,  and  with  which 
even  our  small  Monitors  are  armed,  can  sink  any  broadside 
ship  that  floats. 

The  fleets  of  France  and  England  cannot,  therefore,  ap- 
proach our  coasts  without  almost  certain  destruction.  Such 
a  ship  as  the  Dictator,  or  the  Puritan,  according  to  the  opin- 
ions stated  by  these  eminent  officers,  would  be  able  to  de- 
stroy the  whole  iron-clad  navies  of  France  and  England,  if 
their  ships  could  be  encountered  singly,  and  the  only  danger 
from  a  squadron  would  be  that  of  being  run  down.  The 
solution  of  a  mathematical  problem  is  not  more  certain  than 
that  even  such  a  Monitor  as  the  Catawba,  now  lately 
launched  at  Cincinnati,  would  destroy  any  ship  in  the  Brit- 
ish or  French  navy,  unless  (a  thing  most  improbable)  she 


72 

could  be  rim  down  before  she  could  use  her  guns.  The  side- 
armor  of  the  Catawba,  a  ship  of  about  eleven  hundred  tons, 
is  equal  to  ten  inches  of  solid  iron  on  the  hull  above  the 
water-line,  while  her  turret  is  eleven  inches  thick,  and  she  is, 
therefore,  absolutely  invulnerable  to  any  artillery  which  a 
broadside  ship  can  carry. 

The  Government,  then,  has  acted  most  wisely  in  adopt- 
ing the  Monitors  for  its  present  need.  They  have  secured 
the  nation  against  foreign  attack;  and  rendered  it  certain 
that,  within  the  lines  defended  by  these  impregnable  floating 
batteries,  we  can  safely  develop  our  national  life,  free  from 
all  external  danger, 


I 


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